THE  SYNTHETIC  PHILOSOPHY 
OF  EXPRESSION 


AS  APPLIED  TO 


THE  ARTS  OF  READING,  ORATORY, 
AND  PERSONATION 


BY 


MOSES  TRUE  BROWN,  M.A. 

PRINCIPAL  OP  THE  BOSTON  SCHOOL  OP   ORATORY,  AND  PEOFESSOE  Of  ORATORY 
AT  TUFTS  COLLEGE 


It  is  a  truth  perpetually  illustrated,  that  accumulated 
facts  lying  in  disorder  begin  to  assume  some  order  if  an 
hypothesis  is  thrown  among  them 

SPENCEB 


BOSTON   AND    NEW  YORK 
HOUGHTON    MIFFLIN    COMPANY 

«Cbe  ttitoetfide  press 


Copyright,  1886, 
Bf  MOSES  TRUE  !BROW3l 

All  rights  reserved. 


7? 


PREFACE, 


THE  study  of  Human  Expression  has  for  cen- 
turies attracted  either  the  curious  or  critical  at- 
tention of  one  or  more  of  the  great  minds  of 
each  succeeding  age.  But  it  is  only  within  the 
last  half  of  the  present  century  that  this  im- 
portant subject  has  presented  such  a  unity  of 
classified  knowledge  as  to  make  good  its  claim  to 
be  ranked  among  the  recognized  sciences. 

We  may  confidently  say  that  to  the  researches 
of  two  great  philosophic  minds,  Darwin  and 
Mantegazza,  we  owe  the  substance  of  that  body 
of  truth  which  forms  the  present  Philosophy  of 
Human  Expression,  and  with  equal  confidence 
we  may  assert  that  to  Francois  Delsarte  we  owe 
the  practical  application  of  philosophic  methods 
to  the  speech  arts,  —  Reading,  Oratory,  and  Dra- 
matic Expression. 

Darwin,  while  making  the  now  world-renowned 
voyage  of  the  Beagle,  incidentally  gathered  the 
data  upon  which  he  founded  the  conclusions 
given  the  world  in  his  great  work,  "The  Expres- 
sion of  the  Emotions  in  Man  and  Animals,"  — 
a  treasury  of  exhaustive  research  and  thorough 
analysis. 

^59763 


iv  PREFACE. 

Taking  a  comprehensive  survey  of  the  mass 
of  material  left  by  the  early  physiognomists,  he 
correlated  the  empirical  observations  of  such 
more  modern  writers  as  Lavater,  Gratiolet,  and 
Piderit  with  the  exact  scientific  knowledge  of 
Sir  Charles  Bell  and  Duchenne,  in  their  studies 
of  the  Anatomy  of  Expression ;  and  by  a  series 
of  broad  generalizations  founded  his  philosophy 
upon  three  principles  which  must  forever  remain 
as  foundations  of  the  Philosophy  of  Human  Ex- 
pression. 

The  three  principles  by  which  Darwin  ac- 
counted for  most  of  the  expressions  of  man  and 
animals  are :  — 

I.  The  principle   of  serviceable   associated 
habits. 

II.  The  principle  of  antithesis. 

III.  The  principle  of  the  direct  action  of 
the  'nervous  system  on  the  body,  independently 
of  the  willy  and  independently,  in  large  part, 
of  habit. 

Darwin's  masterly  presentation,  published  in 
Europe  in  1872,  and  in  America  in  1875,  awak- 
ened an  intense  interest  in  the  scientific  world. 
It  startled  many  minds  into  alarm  by  its  bold 
theories  based  upon  the  modern  hypothesis  of 
evolution.  But  it  came  as  a  draught  from  a 
living  spring  to  men  thirsting  for  new  truth, 
and  tired  of  teleological  explanations  of  natural 
phenomena  that  did  not  explain. 

To  no  one  did  this  message  of  Darwin  come 


PREFACE.  V 

with  a  greater  awakening  impulse  than  to  Paolo 
Mantegazza,  a  Florentine  scientist,  who  has  lit- 
erally made  the  globe  his  quarry  in  search  for 
human  expression. 

Accepting  with  an  enthusiasm  born  of  convic- 
tion the  deductions,  based  upon  evolution,  of 
Darwin,  he  drew  from  a  vast  storehouse  of  spe- 
cial observations  and  experiences  among  all  races 
of  mankind  the  material  for  his  celebrated  work, 
published  in  Paris  in  1885,  "  La  Physionomie  et 
1'Expression  des  Sentiments." 

This  work  gives  in  detail  what  Darwin  has 
given  in  general.  It  presents  the  most  critical 
and  exact  analysis  of  the  human  body  and  each 
of  its  expressive  organs,  with  a  wealth  of  illus- 
tration suggestive  of  the  widest  and  most  search- 
ing methods  of  modern  science. 

We  turn  from  these  great  masters  of  philo- 
sophic thought  to  Delsarte.  And  we  are  com- 
pelled to  say  that  there  is  to-day  no  such  body 
of  systematized  knowledge,  left  by  this  great 
teacher  —  and  open  to  the  world — as,  stand- 
ing alone  and  without  interpretation,  merits 
the  title  of  a  philosophy  of  expression. 

The  knowledge  left  by  Delsarte  is  fragment- 
ary, and  often  obscure  and  incoherent.  And  yet 
the  extracts  from  his  manuscripts,  which  have 
from  time  to  time  been  given  the  world  by  his 
disciples,  show  that  a  strong  intellect  and  a 
stronger  psychological  insight  were  at  work, 
even  to  the  hour  of  his  death,  striving  to  solve 
the  problems  of  human  expression. 


Vi  PREFACE. 

We  cannot  escape  the  conviction  that  with 
Delsarte  insight  was  greater  than  reason.  He 
was  a  greater  teacher  than  thinker,  a  greater 
seer  than  philosopher.  We  think  it  will  be 
found  that  the  world  owes  a  debt  of  gratitude 
to  Delsarte,  not  for  any  profound  philosophy, 
but  for  showing  how  a  philosophy  of  expression 
may  be  practically  and  successfully  taught. 

It  now  only  remains  for  the  author  of  this 
treatise  to  attempt  to  justify  the  appearance  at 
this  time  of  the  Synthetic  Philosophy  of  Expres- 
sion. 

For  more  than  twenty  years  a  teacher  and 
student  of  the  Art  of  Expression,  he  well  re- 
members the  appearance  of  the  great  work  of 
Charles  Darwin.  It  may  with  truth  be  said  that 
until  Mr.  Darwin  wrote  no  such  thing  as  a  sci- 
ence of  expression  existed  or  was  possible.  His 
application  of  the  principles  of  evolution  to  ex- 
pression was  the  first  step  of  the  new  advance. 
His  great  book  widened  the  horizon  for  every 
thoughtful  student.  To  the  author  of  this  vol- 
ume it  was  the  sunrise  of  a  new  day. 

The  work  of  Mantegazza,  issued  only  last 
year,  acknowledges  his  indebtedness  to  Darwin, 
and  emphasizes  and  enforces  his  conclusions. 

But  neither  of  these  great  writers  attempted 
to  apply  their  philosophy  to  the  conscious  art 
technique  by  which  the  reader,  actor,  or  orator 
enforces  his  thought  and  passion.  They  made 
no  claim  to  be  teachers,  nor  even  to  suggest 


PREFACE.  vii 

how  the  principles  formulated  by  them  might  be 
taught. 

In  this  treatise  the  author  has  attempted  to 
show  how  the  philosophy  of  these  great  discov- 
erers may  be  applied  to  the  conscious  art  forms 
which  every  expressive  speaker  must  employ. 

He  has  largely  adopted  the  nomenclature  of 
Delsarte.  He  has  not  hesitated,  however,  to 
criticise  the  dicta  of  the  great  teacher  whenever 
he  has  found  what  he  considers  error  or  unsound 
statement.  Thus,  he  has  felt  obliged  to  substi- 
tute the  term  Emotive,  as  signifying  a  state  of 
the  Being,  for  Moral,  and  the  term  Poise,  as 
signifying  a  mode  of  motion,  for  Normal. 

Against  the  empirical  statement,  accredited 
to  Delsarte,  of  Nine  Laws  of  Gesture  as  ulti- 
mate in  expression,  he  has  felt  compelled  to  enter 
a  decided  word  of  protest.  He  has  attempted 
to  show  that  a  single  principle — the  Law  of 
Correspondence  —  underlies  these  nine  laws  for- 
mulated by  Delsarte,  as  well  as  the  numerous 
categories  presented  as  laws  of  gesture  by  his 
followers. 

The  author  asks  the  special  attention  of  the 
student  of  Expression  to  the  correspondences  il- 
lustrated by  the  revelations  and  implications  of 
the  globe,  and  to- his  argument  that  all  our  ges- 
tures bear  fixed  relations  to  the  lines,  spaces, 
arcs,  and  forms  of  the  globe  (see  Chapters  X. 
and  XII.). 

So  far  as  he  is  aware,  no  serious  attempt  has 


viii  PREFACE. 

been  made  by  the  writers  upon  Delsarte  to  ap- 
ply his  philosophy  to  the  two  great  agencies  of 
expression,  Voice  and  Articulate  Speech.  We 
think  we  do  no  injustice  to  Delaumosne,  or  Ar- 
naud,  or  Alger,  when  we  pronounce  their  discus- 
sions to  be  incomplete.  The  author  of  this  trea- 
tise has  attempted  to  run  the  same  parallels  of 
inference  and  deduction  in  his  discussion  of  voice 
and  articulation  that  he  has  used  in  his  treat- 
ment of  gesture.  He  submits  his  discussion  of 
these  great  agents  of  expression  (see  Chapters 
XVI.  and  XVII.)  to  the  critical  judgment  of 
thoughtful  students. 

In  conclusion,  he  may  be  permitted,  in  justice 
to  his  intent,  to  say  that  he  has  made  an  honest 
and  sincere  effort  to  present  a  consistent  and 
logical  body  of  truth,  which  he  hopes  may  hold 
an  humble  place  as  a  philosophy  in  the  litera- 
ture of  human  expression.  He  has  thrown  "  an 
hypothesis  into  the  mass  of  accumulated  facts 
lying  in  disorder  "  known  as  the  Delsarte  Sys- 
tem of  Expression,  in  hopes  that  if  he  has  been 
unable  to  evolve  such  an  orderly  procedure  of 
logical  statement  as  may  merit  the  title  of  a  phi- 
losophy, his  effort  may  stimulate  other  and  bet- 
ter thinkers  to  a  broader  unfolding  of  the  Sci- 
ence of  Expressive  Man. 
BOSTON,  JUNE,  1886. 


CONTENTS. 


L    FIRST  PRINCIPLES 1 

IL    THE  THREE  CONDITIONS  OF   BEING.  —  THE  THREE 
SPECIAL,  AGENTS  OF  EXPRESSION.  —  THE  THREE 

MODES  OF  MOTION 15 

m.  THE  THREEFOLD  DIVISION  OF  THE  BODY  IN  EX- 
PRESSION. —  THE  LAWS  OF  GESTURE.  —  DEL- 
SARTE'S  DIVISION  INTO  NINE. — THEIR  TRUE  BA- 
SIS   43 

IV.     THE  NINE  LAWS  OF  GESTURE  (concluded)    .        .  66 
V.    THE   HUMAN    FORM.  —  ITS    FITNESS  FOR  EXPRES- 
SION          89 

VI.  THE  HUMAN  FORM  (continued).  —  ACTION,  AS  DE- 
TERMINED FROM  THE  BASE 98 

VII.     THE    HUMAN    FORM    (concluded).  —  STRUCTURE,  AS 

DETERMINING      ACTION.  —    INDICATIONS      OF      THE 

FEET 107 

VIII.     THE  TORSO  AND  ITS  EXPRESSIONS         .        .        .  115 
IX.     THE  HEAD  AND  ITS  EXPRESSIONS      ....  129 
X.     THE  HAND  AND  ARM  IN  GESTURE        .        .        .  145 
XI.     THE  GESTURES  OF  THE  HAND  AND  ARM,  AS  MANI- 
FESTING THE  STATES  OF  THE  BEING     .        .        .  162 
XII.     FURTHER  CONSIDERATIONS.  —  THE  REALM  OF  COR- 
RESPONDENCE IN  GESTURE 184 

XIII.  THE  HUMAN  FACE  AS  AN  AGENT  OF  EXPRESSION  202 

XIV.  THE  HUMAN  FACE,  AS  AN  AGENT  OF  EXPRESSION 

(continued) 219 

XV.  THE  HUMAN  FACE,  AS  AN  AGENT  OF  EXPRESSION 

(concluded) 239 

XVL  THE  HUMAN  VOICE  AND  ITS  EXPRESSIONS  .  .  259 

X.VIL  ARTICULATE  SPEECH,  AS  AN  AGENT  OF  EXPRESSION  280 


THE  SYNTHETIC 
PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 


CHAPTER  I. 

FIRST  PRINCIPLES. 

THERE  are  two  subsistences  of  whose  reality 
man  is  conscious,  and  whose  recorded  phenom- 
ena, and  deductions  therefrom,  make  the  sum  of 
that  knowledge  which  he  calls  science. 

These  subsistences  are  (1)  Matter;  and  (2) 
Spirit,  Mind,  or  Soul. 

(a.)  Nothing  exists  or  can  exist,  so  far  as  we  know,  or 
can  think,  that  is  not  one  or  the  other  of  these  actual  exist- 
ences. They  are  the  universal  whole. 

There  are  two  words,  everywhere  spoken, 
when  man  would  cover  with  a  name  his  concept 
of  the  aggregate  of  Matter  and  the  aggregate 
of  Mind. 

These  words  are  the  Universe,  and  God.  The 
Universe  is  matter  in  form,  occupying  Space, 
existing  in  Time,  held  by  law. 


2  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

God  is  Spirit ;  and  is  sustaining  Cause,  ani- 
mating Centre,  and  pervading  Soul  of  the  Uni- 
verse. 

(6.)  Matter  is  the  reality  of  space.  The  concept  of  the 
Greek  mind,  adopted  by  modern  science,  is  that  universal 
space  is  filled  with  a  tenuous  and  imponderable  form  of 
matter  —  the  aether.  Matter  is  composed  of  atoms.  These 
are  innumerable,  infinitely  small,  indivisible,  and  indestruc- 
tible. 

When  atoms  aggregate,  new  bodies  appear ;  when  they 
disaggregate,  bodies  previously  existing  disappear.  The 
Universe  alone  sums  up  their  totality. 

All  masses  are  globes,  both  the  infinitely 
small  and  the  infinitely  great,  and  are  in  never- 
ceasing  motion. 

(c.)  Both  the  infinitely  small  and  the  infinitely  great  are 
alike  unthinkable. 

Take  the  infinitely  small:  Sir  William  Thompson  con- 
ceives that  a  drop  of  water  is  made  up  of  units  so  small, 
that  could  we  magnify  this  single  drop  to  the  size  of  the 
earth,  the  atoms  of  which  it  is  composed  would  not  be 
larger  than  a  cricket-ball ! 

Take  the  infinitely  great :  Its  spaces  are  simply  incon- 
ceivable. There  is  no  circumference,  the  centre  is  every- 
where. 

Gigantic  masses  in  globular  form  are  scattered  in  all  di- 
rections through  this  immensity  of  space.  They  fill  remote 
depths  of  unfathomable  abysses.  They  revolve  around 
themselves  and  around  each  other,  in  orbits  to  which  they 
are  held  by  surrounding  attractions. 

Our  sun  with  its  pellets  of  cosmic  stuff,  including  the 
earth,  about  which  we  are  so  much  concerned,  according  to 
Herschel  is  moving  through  space  toward  some  remote  and 
unknown  centre,  in  the  direction  of  the  constellation  of 
Hercules. 


FIRST  PRINCIPLES.  3 

The  grandest  conclusion  of  modern  science  is 
that  the  Universe  is  bound  together  in  Time 
and  Space  as  a  single  whole.  Said  Galton : 
"  There  is  nothing  as  yet  observed  in  the  order 
of  events,  to  make  us  doubt  that  the  Universe 
is  bound  together  in  space  and  time,  as  a  single 
Entity." 

So  we  may  affirm  of  these  two  subsistences, 
Matter  and  Spirit,  that  they  are  Body  and  Soul 
of  the  Universe. 

And  further,  that  it  is  unthinkable  that  Mat- 
ter can  exist  and  be  active  without  Soul ;  or  that 
Soul  can  manifest  its  existence  without  Body. 

(d.)  Looking  out  upon  the  crowding  phenomena  which 
day  and  night  unfold,  the  greatest  philosophic  thinker  now 
upon  the  planet,  Herbert  Spencer,  is  forced  thus  to  speak : 
"  Among  the  mysteries  which  become  the  more  mysterious 
the  more  they  are  thought  about,  there  will  remain  the  one 
absolute  certainty,  that  man  is  ever  in  the  presence  of  an 
Infinite  and  Eternal  Energy  from  which  all  things  proceed." 

And  Oken,  interpreting  the  problem  from  the  metaphys- 
ical side,  said  :  "  The  Universe  is  an  analysis  of  the  self -con- 
sciousness of  God;  Its  appearance  is  a  synthesis  of  His 
self-consciousness." 

Now  from  the  broad,  the  general,  the  univer- 
sal, let  us  descend  to  the  restricted,  the  particu- 
lar, the  immediate.  From  concepts  of  the  in- 
finite of  Matter  and  Soul  as  revealed  in  the 
Universe,  let  us  consider  the  finite  of  Matter 
and  Soul  as  revealed  in  Man. 

(e.)  That  man  images  the  Universe  —  thaf  he  includes  in 
his  being  all  forms,  forces,  essences  —  that  he  reflects 


4  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

through  his  organism  the  universal  whole,  are  no  longer 
fancies,  dreams,  and  speculations  of  poets  and  transcenden- 
tal philosophers.  The  modern  law  of  Evolution  binds  to- 
gether the  problems  of  Natural  History,  as  Newton's  laws 
bind  together  the  motions  of  the  heavenly  bodies. 

When  the  consciousness  of  man  shall  have  digested  the 
amazing  deductions  of  such  minds  as  Spencer  and  Darwin, 
Huxley  and  Fiske,  as  to  man's  origin  and  appearance  on  the 
earth ;  when  the  materialist  shall  have  put  in  his  evidence 
to  the  last  word,  and  all  its  importance  shall  have  been  fully 
realized  and  fairly  weighed,  I  foresee  that  the  pendulum 
of  human  thought  and  belief  will  swing  back  toward  the 
grander  conceptions  of  Oken  and  Swedenborg  and  Emer- 
son, towards  which  goal  all  this  challenging  of  Nature  inev- 
itably leads ;  that  the  Spiritual  is  at  the  centre  both  in  the 
Universe  and  in  Man,  who  reflects  and  images  the  Universe. 

Said  Schopenhauer,  with  immense  significance :  "  The 
Materialists  endeavor  to  show  that  all,  even  mental,  phe- 
nomena are  physical ;  and  rightly :  —  only  they  do  not  see 
that  on  the  other  hand  everything  physical  is  at  the  same 
time  metaphysical  /  " 

Man  as  we  find  him  on  this  earth  is  a  union 
of  matter  and  Soul. 

Let  us  call  this  mysterious  union  of  matter 
and  Soul  in  form,  The  Organism. 

And  we  may  say,  Man  is  a  Soul  served  by 
organs. 

Now  certain  necessities  result  from  such  an 
organization  as  man  presents. 

-Of  necessity  man  is  a  creature  limited  by 
three  unavoidable  restrictions.  These  restric- 
tions are  Space,  Time,  and  Motion. 

And  we  may  say  that,  standing  upon  the 
earth,  these  three  restrictions  hold  him,  inexora* 
bly,  in  their  grasp. 


FIRST  PRINCIPLES.  5 

And  further  —  a  most  important  conclusion  — 
we  shall  find  that  all  his  expressions,  whether  of 
Voice,  Gesture,  or  Articulate  Speech,  bear  defi- 
nite relations  to  these  three  great  restrictions. 

And  we  should  be  able  to  formulate  a  com- 
plete Philosophy  of  Expression,  were  we  able 
to  state  all  man's  relations  to  these  three  re- 
strictions. 

(/I)  Let  us  try  to  make  plain  by  a  diagram *  our  idea  of 
man  conditioned  by  Space,  Time,  and  Motion.  e 

We  project  one  side  of  a  triangle.2      The  word  ^?y 
we  write  over  the  left  side.     Space  holds  all  things,  small, 
great  and  greatest.     It  holds  man :  where  can  he  go  out  of 
Space?  ^ 

The  right  side  of  our  triangle  is  struck  out.  "^$  Time 
is  an  unavoidable  condition  of  the  Being.  Once  man  was 
not  on  earth  as  apparition.  Now  he  is  (it  is  present).  He 
was  yesterday  (it  has  passed).  He  will  be  ...  Ah !  how 
long  !  where,  whence,  under  what  conditions  ? 

The  third  line  is  sketched.     Motion.     Motion  is  Force 

expending  itself.  And  Force  is  the  source  of  all  active 
phenomena  occurring  in  the  material  world.  Motion  is  the 
evidence  of  a  Force  behind  it.  Man  as  mass  is  matter.  So 
the  cosmic  forces,  gravity.,  electricity,  etc.,  acting  upon  this 
mass,  are  a  most  formidable  restriction.  In  the  last  analysis 
our  sensations  are  only  so  many  modes  of  motion.  When 
vibration  reaches  the  conscious  self  we  say,  "I  feel,  I  taste, 
hear,  see,  smell,  which  translated  mean,  I  vibrate,  I  am  set 
in  motion  !  "  See  what  modern  science  says  of  these  pulses 
from  the  outer,  beating  in  upon  the  conscious  self. 

1  The  blackboard  and  diagram  have  come  to  be  essential  aids  in 
the  presentation  of  abstract  ideas.     He  is  a  poor  teacher  to  whom 
they  are  not  indispensable. 

2  We  shall  have  frequent  occasion  to  use  the  triangle  in  formulat- 
ing abstract  ideas.     In  using  this  figure,  or  when  speaking  of  triads 
or  trinities,  we  wish  it  understood  that  no  theological  signification  is 
intended. 


6  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

If  the  air  vibrate  oftener  than  sixteen,  but  less  often  than 
30  thousand  times  in  a  second  we  say,  "  I  hear  music !  " 

The  transfer  of  energy  oftener  than  30  thousand  and  less 
often  than  458  trillions  in  a  second,  "  I  feel  heat !  "  At  the 
rate  of  458  trillions,  "  I  see  red !  "  And  the  sensation  of 
577  trillions  of  ether  vibrations  in  a  second  is  translated  by 
our  consciousness  as  green,  while  vibrations  pulsing  through 
the  ether  at  the  rate  of  727  trillions  become  violet,  in  our 
consciousness. 

We  may  now  venture  to  put  our  idea  in  dia- 
gram.     Let  us  call  it  the  Triad1  or 
Trinity  of  Kestriction.    It  will  come 
to  bear  an  increasing   interest   and 
importance  as  we  proceed. 

Thus  is  man  conditioned  by  an  environment 
from  which  there  is  no  escape. 

Space,  Time,  and  Force  shewing  itself  as  Mo- 
tion, are  his  greatest  earthly  restrictions. 

Let  us  put  our  idea  into  three  propositions  :  — 

1.  Soul  can  manifest  itself,  both  in  the  Uni- 
verse and  in  man,  only  through  matter. 

2.  All  manifestations  of  Soul  —  both  in  the 
Universe  and  in  man  —  must  declare  themselves 
in  relation  to,  and  correspondence  with,  Space, 
Time,  and  Motion. 

3.  Whatever  successively  appears  in  Time  is 
simultaneously  extended  in  Space. 

Thus  self-motion,  motion  of  the  exterior,  which 
we  can  see  is  sent  from  the  interior,  is  our  only 
evidence  of  life,  and  is  the  only,  but  ultimate, 
distinction  between  the  organic  and  inorganic. 

i  The  idea  of  triads  is  older  than  Aristotle.  Far  back  of  Greece,  in 
Chaldea,  Persia,  Egypt,  Assyria,  three  was  the  sacred  number,  and 
back  of  these  records  existed  a  traditional  throe  ! 


FIRST  PRINCIPLES.  1 

The  organic  dies  so  soon  as  motion  disappears 
in  it.  The  inorganic  lives  so  soon  as  motion 
enters  it. 

When  the  principle  of  Life  resides  in  a  mass 
moved  from  a  centre,  it  is  an  Organism.  Oken's 
definition  reads  :  "  An  Organism  is  a  circum- 
scribed, closed  mass  which  moves  itself." 

We  may  predicate  of  any  organism  these 
things :  — 

1.  An  organism  is"  mass  in  form,  with  control- 
ling centre  and  near  environment. 

2.  While  centre   and   near   environment   are 
one,  and  continue  as  one,  there  is  Life. 

.3.  When  this  relation  of  controlling  centre 
and  controlled  environment  no  longer  exists, 
what  was  near  environment  becomes  remote. 
Then  comes  the  return  of  specialized  matter  to 
the  general  mass  of  the  earth.  This  is  the  dis- 
appearance or  death  of  the  organism.  This  is 
the  retreat  of  the  individual  into  the  Universal. 

Said  Robin  :  "  To  live  and  to  crystallize  are 
cwo  properties  never  united." 

A  diagram  will  make  plain  our  idea. 

AN    ORGANISM. 


In  our  diagram  the  life  or  psychic  element  is 


8  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

centre.  The  centre  controls  its  body,  mass,  or 
near  environment. 

This  is  true  of  all  animals.  As  the  animal 
evolves  higher  psychic  elements,  it  becomes  able 
to  control  its  near  environment  for  higher  ex- 
pressions than  those  of  merely  maintaining  and 
perpetuating  its  life. 

It  becomes  able  to  comprehend  and  control 
something  of  its  remote  environment.  Man  of 
this  era  has  a  much  greater  control  of  remote 
environment  than  any  other  animal.  And  the 
perfected  man  of  the  future  will  attain  to  a 
knowledge  and  control  of  his  two  environments, 
inconceivable  to  the  most  advanced  men  of  to- 
day. 

(g.)  Let  us  examine  the  relations  of  body  and  psychic  as 
they  present  themselves  in  the  most  perfect  earthly  organ- 
ism, that  of  man. 

To  "  bode "  is  to  portend,  to  foreshadow.  The  Anglo- 
Saxon  word  "  bodian  "  meant,  to  announce,  to  tell.  To 
"body,"  then,  is  to  produce  in  form,  to  cause  to  appear. 
So,  a  body  is  an  appearance,  an  apparition,  a  phenomenon. 

Now  that  which  is  bodied  cannot  be  the  same  thing  as 
the  body.  It  must  be  another  thing,  another  somewhat. 
Body  is  exterior,  and  is  seen.  This  other  is  interior,  and  is 
unseen.  The  Body  is  container.  This  other  is  contained. 
1/e  call  the  Outer,  Body.  The  Inner  we  call  Soul. 

The  body  holds  its  form,  substance,  and  continuance 
Uom  the  Soul.  It  is  held  out  of,  and  separated  from,  the 
great  mass  of  matter  by  the  Soul.  When  let  go  by  the 
Soul  it  disappears  as  Organism.  There  is  a  triumph  ot 
cosmic  over  organic  force.1 

1  This  twofold  division  of  the  organism,  into  body  and  soul,  is  com- 
in  the  history  of  man.    Says  Herbert  Spencer  :   "  The 


FIRST  PRINCIPLES.  9 

We  may  now  venture  a  definition  of  the  two 
entities  which  make  the  organism  that  we  call 
Man. 

1.  The  Body,  or  Exterior,  is  a  persistent 
aggregate   and    continuance   of  objective  phe- 
nomena. 

2.  The   Soul,  or   Interior,   is  a  persistent 
aggregate  and  continuance  of  subjective  phe- 
nomena. 

3.  All  phenomena  of  the  Body  are  expres- 
sible in  terms  of  Matter  and  Motion. 

All  phenomena  of  the  Soul  are  expressible 
in  terms  of  Thought  and  Feeling. 

And  it  is  upon  the  related  phenomena  of  the 
Organism  that  we  base  the  Science  of  Expression, 
which  is  a  branch  of  the  broader  Science  of 
Esthetics. 

So  that  a  Philosophy  of  Expression  is  a  branch 
of  the  Philosophy  of  ^Esthetics,  which  is  the 
Philosophy  of  the  Fine  Arts.1 

(h.)  After  all  is  said  of  the  result  of  modern  investiga- 
tion into  the  material  organ  of  the  mind,  the  brain,  the 

hypothesis  of  a  sentient,  thinking  entity  dwelling  within  a  corporeal 
framework  is  now  so  deeply  woven  into  our  beliefs  and  into  our  lan- 
guage that  we  can  scarcely  imagine  it  to  be  one  which  the  primitive 
man  did  not  entertain  and  could  not  entertain." 

1  It  was  a  bold  generalization  of  Ludwig  Noire  that  divided  the 
empire  of  Philosophy  into  two  great  divisions,  Kinetics  and  ^Esthetics. 

By  Kinetics  he  would  consider  as  a  problem  of  pure  mechanics  the 
objective  world,  from  the  first  motion  of  the  atom  to  the  revolutions 
of  the  solar  system ;  from  the  formation  of  the  first  cell  to  the  life  of 
man. 

By  ^Esthetics  he  would  solve  the  subjective  world,  from  the  first 
tremor  of  an  embryo  to  the  most  brilliant  achievements  of  the  mind ; 
from  the  first  reaction  of  the  monera  to  the  highest  flights  of  human 
genius. 


10  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

great  secret,  "What  is  and  where  is  Soul?"  constantly 
eludes  us.  Said  Serres  :  "  We  have  been  dissecting  the 
brain  since  the  age  of  Galen,  yet  there  is  not  an  anatomist 
who  has  not  left  his  successor  something  to  do."  Said 
Ribot :  "In  the  presence  of  the  fibres  of  the  brain  we  are 
like  hackney-coachmen,  who  know  the  streets  and  the  houses, 
but  know  nothing  of  what  goes  on  inside  them." 

And  the  latest  writer,  M.  Luys,  who  has  brought  the 
microscope  and  the  resources  of  photography  to  his  aid  to 
complement  years  of  observation,  study,  and  experiment  in 
one  of  the  great  hospitals  of  Paris,  declares  that  the  secrets 
of  nervous  organization  escape  from  our  eyes  as  fast  as  we 
press  into  the  regions  where  they  conceal  themselves. 

And  it  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  that  men  divide  them- 
selves into  two  schools  of  thought,  —  the  Materialistic  and 
the  Spiritualistic,  —  when  brought  to  confront  this  mystery. 
The  vice  has  been  that  neither  school  is  disposed  to  treat 
dispassionately  the  thought  of  the  other. 

Says  the  Materialist,  with  scalpel  in  hand,  and  a  brain 
fresh  from  the  body  before  him :  "  I  cannot  find,  in  all  this 
mass  of  white  and  gray  matter,  the  thing  which  you  call 
Soul.  The  microscope  discloses  a  marvelous  structure, 
not  open  to  unaided  vision.  I  find,  as  the  unit  of  structure, 
the  cell,  with  nucleus  as  centre,  and  nucleolus  as  centre  of 
centre ;  and  no  vision  pierces  further  !  The  Brain  seems  to 
be  an  admirable  instrument  for  receiving  and  registering 
impressions  from  the  outer  world.  I  can  conceive,  too,  that 
the  stored  energy  laid  up  in  its  centres  manifests  itself  as 
thought,  will,  and  feeling,  under  the  law  of  the  correlation 
of  forces;  but  I  nowhere  find  the  something  you  seem 
pleased  to  call  the  Soul !  " 

Says  the  Spiritualist,  with  a  fine  affectation  of  scorn,  with 
no  scalpel,  microscope,  or  brain  before  him ;  evolving  his 
answer  from  his  inner  consciousness  :  "  Do  you  hope  to  find, 
in  dull,  dead  matter,  Spirit,  Mind,  Soul  ?  Why  waste  your 
time  in  a  fruitless  search  for  what  you  can  never  apprehend 
through  the  senses?  Besides,  it  is  a  dead  house  you  are 
searching  through  for  its  late  occupant!  Did  you  ever 


FIRST  PRINCIPLES.  11 

search  through  a  living,  pulsating,  inhabited  brain  ?  Higher 
than  all  your  search  is  the  evidence  of  the  rational  deduc- 
tions founded  in  the  eternal  justness  and  fitness  of  things ; 
that  deep,  central  current  of  belief  in  Immortality  which 
sweeps  through  human  thought  as  the  Gulf  Stream  through 
the  ocean,  bankless  and  shoreless."  l 

At  the  present  halt  of  Science,  the  Soul,  to  a  Materialist, 
if  he  should  give  it  a  name,  is  the  function  of  a  highly 
specialized  form  of  matter,  the  nervous  mass.  Said  Le- 
fevre :  "  Soul  is  the  function  of  the  cerebral  mass,  concen- 
trating itself  in  memory,  thought,  and  personality." 

To  the  Spiritualist,  Soul  is  another  thing  than  matter :  it  is 
an  entity,  living  and  imperishable  !  The  nervous  organiza- 
tion, as  all  material  parts  of  the  organism,  is  admittedly 
perishable  as  structure  ;  but  the  conscious  self  that  controls 
the  body,  the  inner  force,  must  persist.  In  fact,  advanced 
spiritualism  declares  that  matter  is  the  shadow  of  which 
Spirit  is  the  substance. 

It  seems  certain  that  the  present  hostility  —  largely  ap- 
parent —  of  Science  to  the  immanence  of  Soul,  both  in  the 
Universe  and  in  man,  is  to  lead  to  a  broader  philosophy,  a 
philosophy  which  shall  reconcile  all  the  varied  phenomena 
which  Nature  presents  to  the  human  mind. 

And  this  new  and  better  philosophy  will  assuredly  have 
for  its  basis  the  deepest,  widest,  and  most  certain  of  all 
truths  ;  that  the  Power  that  is  behind  this  apparent  veil,  the 
Universe,  and  the  power  that  is  behind  this  veil  of  flesh, 
the  human  body,  can  only  be  made  known  by  stirrings  be- 
hind the  tapestry  of  matter. 

1  The  thought  of  James  Freeman  Clarke,  spoken  at  Concord,  Mass., 
at  the  funeral  services  of  Emerson,  the  Plato  of  our  era.  Mr.  Clarke 
said  of  this  great  soul:  "  Like  the  greatest  thinkers,  he  did  not  rely 
on  logical  proof,  but  on  the  higher  evidence  of  universal  instincts; 
the  vast  streams  of  belief,  which  flow  through  human  thought  like 
currents  in  the  ocean,  —  those  shoreless  rivers  which  forever  roll  along 
their  paths  in  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific,  not  restrained  by  banks,  but 
guided  by  the  revolutions  of  the  globe  and  the  attractions  of  the 
Bun." 


12  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

We  have  made  this  general  survey  of  the  re- 
lations of  the  Soul  to  its  environment  —  both 
near  and  remote  —  that  the  student  may  be  bet- 
ter prepared  to  comprehend  something  of  the 
breadth  and  significance  of  what  I  think  I  may 
claim  to  be  A  New  Philosophy  of  Expression. 
It  will  be  seen  that  in  its  broadest  application 
such  a  Philosophy  must  embrace  all  the  phenom- 
ena resulting  from  the  mysterious  union  of  soul 
and  body. 

It  must  recognize  the  action  of  the  environ- 
ment —  near  and  remote  —  upon  the  soul,  as  also 
the  modes  of  reaction  of  the  soul  upon  its  envi- 
ronment. 

It  should  trace  —  if  it  were  pushed  to  ulti- 
mate grounds  —  the  manifestations  of  the  sim- 
plest life  upon  the  earth,  up  to  imperial  man, 
whose  expressions  would  epitomize  and  reveal  the 
Kosmos. 

It  must  embrace,  also,  all  the  complex  phe- 
nomena which  arise  from  the  necessity  man 
feels,  while  in  the  presence  of  Nature,  to  em- 
body, and  thereby  attempt  to  realize,  his  worship 
of  the  True,  the  Good,  and  the  Beautiful. 
Hence  a  complete  Philosophy  of  Expression 
would  embrace  the  philosophy  of  the  Fine  Arts, 
plastic,  graphic,  and  dramatic  —  the  Arts  of  the 
eye  and  ear.1 


1  Oken  has  made  a  twofold  division  of  Art;  the  Plastic  and  the 
Sonant,  or  that  of  Form  and  that  of  Motion.  Sculpture  is  mass  in 
Form.  Sculpture  repeated  in  light  is  Painting.  Music  is  the  Art  of 


FIRST  PRINCIPLES.  13 

In  the  present  treatise  upon  Human  Expres- 
sion, we  shall  discuss,  mainly,  the  immediate  ex- 
pressions of  the  soul  through  the  body.  We 
shall  attempt  to  show  that  the  soul  manifests  it- 
self as  a  threefold  essence;  through  three  divi- 
sions of  the  body ;  and  by  three  modes  of  motion 

One  great  principle  will  be  stated  as  founda- 
tion for  much  the  greater  number  of  our  expres- 
sions. 

This  principle  is  the  Law  of  Correspondence. 
It  will  be  fully  stated  when  we  come  to  consider 
the  Nine  Laws  of  Gesture. 

Two  diagrams  will  have  greater  and  greater 
significance  as  our  work  unfolds.  Indeed,  they 
may  be  said  to  centre  our  Philosophy.  The  stu- 
dent will  come  to  regard  them  as  keys  to  unlock 
many  a  difficult  door. 

We  present  here  the  two  diagrams,  and  urge 
the  student  to  turn  back  and  to  refer  to  them 
again  and  again  as  he  proceeds. 

(1)  (2) 


Motion.  Utility. 

EXPRESSION.         '  EXPRESSION. 

(z.)  The  student  will  refer  to  page  6  for  an  explanation 
of  Diagram  (1).  This  diagram  represents  the  broadest  re- 
striction man  encounters  upon  the  earth.  It  will  be  shown, 
as  we  proceed,  that  all  our  expressions  are  related  to  these 
three  great  restrictions  of  Space,  Time,  and  Motion. 

Motion.  The  dance  of  Tones  is  Music.  The  Sonant  Arts,  rooted  in 
Music,  are  Poetry,  Oratory,  Reading1.  Dramatic  Art  is  living  Sculp- 
ture, with  an  environment  of  all  the  Fine  Arts. 


14  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

Diagram  (2)  is  explained  at  the  commencement  of  Chap- 
ter VI.,  in  which,  and  the  chapters  following,  we  have  stated 
the  grounds  of  our  belief  that  the  evolution  of  man  as  an  ex- 
pressive being  has  been  a  progressive  development  along  the 
three  parallels  of  Structure,  Function,  and  Utility. 

In  our  discussion  of  the  great  subject  of  Hu- 
man Expression,  we  shall  hope  to  present  to  the 
reason  and  judgment  of  earnest  students  proof 
and  confirmation  that  man  is  indeed  an  abstract 
and  epitome  of  the  forms  and  forces  of  the  Uni- 
verse, and  that  the  poet  sang  only  prosaic  truth 
in  her  sublime  utterance  :  — 

.  .  . "  God  collected  and  resumed  in  man 

The  firmaments,  the  strata,  and  the  lights, 

Fish,  fowl,  and  beast,  and  insect,  —  all  their  trains 

Of  various  lif  e  caught  back  upon  his  arm, 

Reorganized  and  constituted  man, 

The  Microcosm,  the  adding-up  of  works  !  " 

ELIZABETH  BABBETT  BBOWNINQ. 


CHAPTEE  H. 

THE  THREE  CONDITIONS  OF  BEING.  THE  THREE 
SPECIAL  AGENTS  OF  EXPRESSION.  THE  THREE 
MODES  OF  MOTION. 

MAN  as  Psychic1  manifests  himself  as  three 
conditions  of  Being,  or,  we  may  say,  he  mani- 
fests three  Natures. 

These  conditions  of  Being,  or  three  Natures, 
are :  I.  The  Vital.  II.  The  Mental.  III.  The 
Emotive. 

(a.)  It  should  be  borne  constantly  in  mind  that  in  deal- 
ing with  the  Psychic  we  are  considering  an  organic  whole. 
Nature  makes  no  division  of  the  psychic  element,  and  any 
process  by  which  we  break  it  up  into  parts  is  an  operation 
purely  of  our  own  making,  and  is  used  simply  as  a  conven- 
ience. In  the  somewhat  abstract  discussion  which  follows, 
the  reader  will  save  himself  from  confusion  by  keeping  this 
idea  in  mind. 

I.  Man  as  a  psychic  Being  is  Vital,  Sensi- 
tive, Instinctive. 

Through  this  part  of  his  Being  he  exhibits 
the  phenomena  of  Life. 

1  As  we  shall  frequently  use  the  term  Psychic,  as  a  noun,  in  our  trea- 
tise, let  us  define  it  as  an  energy  centred  in  the  organism  and  controlling 
its  action.  The  term  is  used  as  generic,  and  covers  the  three  specific 
terms,  Life,  Mind,  and  Soul. 


16  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

t 

(b.)  We  nowhere  find  sentient  life,  save  in  connection  with 
a  highly  organized  kind  of  matter  which  we  call  nerve  sub- 
stance. A  dot  of  this  substance  not  so  large  as  a  pin's  head 
organizes  an  insect  kingdom.  Said  Darwin  :  "  The  brain  of 
an  ant  is  one  of  the  most  marvellous  atoms  of  matter  in  the 
world,  —  perhaps  more  so  than  the  brain  of  a  man." 

Stated  in  terms  of  matter,  Life  is  an  energy  centred  in 
nerve  substance,  and  nowhere  exists  save  in  connection  with 
such  substance. 

This  is  true  alike  of  the  structureless  protozoa l  inhabiting 
a  stagnant  pool,  and  of  man  who  is  at  the  summit  of  neural 
development. 

II.  Man  as  a  psychic  Being  is  Mental,  In- 
tellectual, Reflective.  Through  this  part  of  his 
Being  he  exhibits  the  phenomena  of  Mind. 

He  thinks,  and  compares  his  thoughts  with 
things.  He  perceives,  recalls  what  he  has  per- 
ceived, and  projects  pictures  of  what  he  has  seen. 
He  reasons,  and  links  his  reasonings  in  proposi- 
tions. He  is  the  only  being  on  earth  who  uses 
the  syllogism. 

(c.)  We  may  diagram  the  pentarchy  of  the  intellectual 
faculties. 

..Generalization.    5. 

;""" Reason.   4. 

MlNDf—'-"        Jmagination.    3. 

"''••• Memory.    2. 

--.Perception.    1. 

These  are  the  faculties  by  the  aid  of  which  man  attains  to 
all  knowledge.  They  are  the  instruments  with  which  he 

7  Since  the  passing  from  a  structureless  state  to  a  structural  state 
is  itself  a  vital  process,  it  follows  that  vital  activity  must  have  existed 
while  there  was  yet  no  structure.  — HERBERT  SPENCKB. 


TRIADS  OF  EXPRESSION.  17 

constructs  his  science,  art,  and  literature.  And  in  the  last 
analysis  we  shall  find  that  our  sciences  are  but  human 
knowledge,  partly  unified,  based  upon  the  power  of  detect- 
ing identity  and  difference  in  the  phenomena  which  Nature 
presents  to  the  knowing  faculties. 

III.  Man  as  a  psychic  Being  is  Emotive, 
Passional,  Ethical,  Spiritual. 

Through  this  part  of  his  being  he  exhibits  the 
phenpmena  of  the  Emotions.  He  loves  and  hates, 
is  affectionate,  or  bears  enmity.  He  is  benevo- 
lent, or  malignant.  He  is  loyal  to  his  concepts  of 
truth  and  duty.  He  worships ;  and,  contempla- 
tive of  the  Spiritual,  is  reverent  even  to  mysti- 
cism. 

These  are  three  states  or  conditions  of  one 
Being.  Neither  state  exists  without  the  others, 
nor  independently  of  the  others,  any  more  than 
a  triangle  can  exist  without  three  sides. 

Separate  the  terms  by  which  you  state  a  three- 
fold essence,  —  you  cannot  separate  the  essence ; 
nor  can  you  know  of  the  existence  of  the  Being 
except  through  its  manifestations. 

We  repeat,  then,  the  idea  which  we  shall  at- 
tempt to  unfold  in  the  pages  of  this  treatise. 

The  Philosophy  of  the  manifestations  of  the 
Psychic  through  the  Body  is  the  Philosophy  of 
Human  Expression. 

(d.)  The  question  has  occurred,  doubtless,  to  the  student, 
Does  scientific  Psychology  justify  this  division  of  the  Psy- 
chic in  man  into  Vital,  Emotive,  and  Mental  states  or  con- 
ditions ? 

We  think  so.  The  division  of  the  psychic  element,  made 
2 


18  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

by  the  old  psychologists,  into  Intellect,  Feeling,  and  Will,  is 
held  substantially  to-day. 

Says  Sully  : l  "  Mind  is  the  sum  of  our  processes  of  know- 
ing, of  our  feelings  of  pleasure  and  pain,  and  of  our  vol- 
untary doings.  It  is  non-material,  the  inner  world  as 
iistinguished  from  the  external."  Says  Hermann  Lotze  :  2 
"  Sensations,  ideas,  feelings,  and  acts  of  will  constitute  the 
well-known  facts,  the  whole  of  which  we  are  accustomed 
to  designate  as  the  life  of  a  peculiar  entity  called  *  The 
Soul.' " 

We  diagram  the  two  divisions  of  the  Psychic. 


(1)  (2) 

The  usual  division :  —  The  division  adopted  in  this  treatise :  — 

...Will.  ..— -MentaL 

THE  ...---•  THE 

#:'-- Thought  #•." Emotive. 

PSYCHIC.    ""•••• PSYCHIC.       

Feeling.  VitaL 


It  will  be  seen  that  the  Will  is  not  found  in  our  division 
of  the  Psychic.  True,  but  it  is  not  left  out  of  our  scheme. 

This  determining  power  of  the  Psychic  —  this  power  by 
whose  aid  our  Mental,  Emotive,  or  Vital  states  declare  them- 
selves —  we  make  the  direct  agent  of  the  Psychic. 

So  we  accept  the  empirical  definition,  accredited  to  Del- 
sarte  as  that  which  best  explains  the  phenomena  of  the  Be- 
ing in  action. 

The  Will  is  the  direct  agent  of  the  Soul,  and  lends  itself 
to  which  side  of  the  Being  desires  to  manifest. 

We  are  aware  that  Delsarte  is  accredited  with  making  a 
threefold  division  differing  from  that  which  we  have  pre° 
sented. 

It  becomes  necessary,  therefore,  that  we  shall  state  the 
grounds  of  difference  and  the  reasons  for  our  dissent. 

We  present  the  division  accredited  to  Delsarte  by  two  of 
his  disciples. 

1  See  Sully's  Psychology,  pp.  2,  20.     Appleton  &  Co.,  New  York. 

2  See  Lotze's  Outlines  of  Psychology,  p.  1.     Ginn  &  Co.,  Boston, 


TRIADS  OF  EXPRESSION,  19 

Mr.  Mackaye's  division.  M.  Delaumosne's  division. 

...-Mental.    II.  ...-Mind.    II. 

THB            --"""  THB           

^::::"-'. Moral.    III.  ^.-l-l:; Soul.    III. 

PSYCHIC.  """ PSYCHIC.           

.Vital.    I.  ""--Life.    I. 

Now  we  consider  the  use  of  the  term  "  Moral "  to  repre- 
sent a  generic  division  of  the  Psychic  as  in  the  highest  de- 
gree unfortunate.  We  have  found  it  confusing.  No  one  of 
the  followers  of  Delsarte,  so  far  as  we  know,  has  yet  given 
it  a  comprehensible  definition.  It  manifestly  cannot  bear  its 
ordinary  English  meaning,  of  reference  to  our  sense  of  right 
and  wrong,  for  that  so  restricts  its  signification  that  it  is  im- 
possible to  cover  what,  by  numerous  examples,  Delsarte  evi- 
dently intended  to  cover  with  the  term. 

Thus  what  confusion  this  statement,  accredited  to  Mr. 
Steele  Mackaye,1  makes  in  any  scheme  of  psychology ! 

"  In  man  we  find  a  Vital  nature  which  feels,  a  Mental 
nature  which  thinks,  and  a  Moral  nature  which  '  loves?  " 
But  suppose  we  write  "  hates  "  in  the  place  of  loves  ?  Does 
the  action  cease  to  be  "  moral,"  according  to  the  definition  ? 
But  has  the  term  "  Moral "  no  place  in  our  scheme  ?  Yes ; 
with  us  "  Moral "  is  a  specific  term,  included  in  the  generic 
term  Emotive. 

We  think  no  one  can  read  the  definition  of  Feeling  as 
given  by  Herbert  Spencer  without  recognizing  the  probabil- 
ity that  by  the  term  "  Moral "  Delsarte  intended  to  cover 
the  entire  class  of  Feelings  which  Mr.  Spencer  classes  as 
Emotions. 

He  divides  all  Feelings  into  two  classes,  —  Sensations  and 
Emotions. 

Sensations  are  Feelings  arising  in  the  bodily  framework. 

Emotions  are  Feelings  arising  in  the  mental  framework. 

In  this  treatise  we  have  adopted  in  place  of  the  term 
"  Moral,"  accredited  to  Delsarte,  the  more  consistent  term 

1  It  will  be  borne  in  mind  by  the  reader  that  authoritative  state- 
ments do  not  exist  of  the  ideas  either  of  Delsarte  or  Mr.  Mackaye. 
We  therefore  use  the  compliant  term  "accredited "  when  referring  to 
statements  afloat  in  their  names. 


20  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

Emotive.     By  so  doing  the  terms  Vital  and  Emotive  can  be 
held  in  entire  consistency  with  modern  Psychology.1 

Let  us  diagram  our  idea  of  the  Emotive  nature.  It  will 
be  seen  that  we  make  the  Ethical  (moral)  a  division  of  the 
Emotive  nature. 


THE  EMOCTVB     ... 

Mystical.    5. 

.  sr 

"    I  Spiritual.   4. 

ELEMENT. 

5>  Ethical.    3. 

""  -...,      a  Passional.  2. 
•    Instinctive.   L 

Our  contention  is,  that  the  Being  of  man, 
though  invisible,  manifests  itself  through  the 
body  in  three  modes  or  phases.  These  modes  of 
manifestation  are  well  defined.  Thus,  Vital  ex- 
pressions, as  we  shall  attempt  to  show,  bear  a 
distinct  character  that  separates  them  from  Emo- 
tive expressions.  So,  too,  expressions  from  the 
Mental  nature  have  certain  distinct  character- 
istics which  separate  them  from  either  Vital  or 
Emotive  expressions. 

And  more  than  this ;  we  contend  that  each  of 
the  three  natures  chooses  the  ground  of  its  dis- 
play, and  that  the  body  has  its  well-defined  tracts, 
through  which,  by  a  seeming  preference,  the  Unity 

1  To  show  that  a  mind  used  to  psychological  methods  would  gather  a 
similar  impression  of  the  term  ' '  Moral ' '  to  that  presented  by  us,  we 
quote  a  definition  given  before  the  Summer  Session  of  1885  of  the  Bos- 
ton School  of  Oratory,  by  Professor  Bulkley,  of  the  Howard  Univer- 
sity, Washington,  D.  C.  He  thus  presents  what  he  concludes  to  bo 
Delsarte's  idea  in  the  use  of  the  term  "  Moral :  ': — 

The  combined  intellective  and  motive  forces,  leading  to  the  conviction 
under  which,  by  will  power,  the  orator  speaks  and  acts. 

This  definition  includes  the  three  fundamental  factors  of  the  Being, 
namely :  The  Intellectual,  The  Emotional,  The  Volitional. 


TRIADS  OF  EXPRESSION.  2X 

we  call  the  Human  Soul  manifests  itself  in  one  of 
its  three  phases  of  Being. 

Thus,  expressions  amount  to  proofs,  and  so  we 
are  enabled  to  trace  backward  from  the  outer  ex- 
pression to  find  the  inner  condition  that  prompted 
the  expression.  Thus  the  outer  sign  reveals  the 
inner  mood. 

(e.)  Let  us  illustrate.  Both  Darwin  and  Mantegazza, 
from  a  wide  survey  of  Human  Expression,  embracing  all 
races  now  upon  the  earth,  agree  that  menace  or  threatening 
to  attack  shows  itself  the  world  over  by  two  expressions  sent 
out  from  the  Vital  nature  :  (1.)  By  making  fists.  (2.)  By 
a  firm  closure  of  the  mouth,  and  by  drawing  up  the  lips  from 
the  teeth,  usually  on  the  left  side. 

We  shall  give  proof  upon  proof  that,  back  of  these  open 
manifestations,  lurks  the  phase  of  the  Being  that  prompts 
the  expression. 

We  ask  the  student  to  study  carefully  the  fol- 
lowing diagram  of  the  classification  of  the  Three 
States  of  the  Being  :  — 


"-  -Ethical. 


•. 

';•.  Affectional.    Passional. 

L  VITAL.    #.".;'•'•"  .............  Vital  Instincts. 


*  '  •  Simple  manifestations  of 


'  •     mple 


22  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

(/.)  Our  diagram  is  intended  to  represent  all  sentient 
life  upon  the  earth,  from  the  simplest  protozoa  to  man.  Sur- 
veying psychic  appearance  in  animals  along  the  chain  of 
sentient  existence,  it  seems  apparent  that  it  is  the  added 
psychic  element  that  marks  higher  and  higher  degrees  of  in- 
telligence and  feeling,  from  the  simplest  manifestations  of 
Life,  up  to  the  complexity  of  Thought,  Feeling,  and  Will, 
which  we  call  the  human  SouL 

We  formulate,  in  a  single  proposition,  the 
mode  of  the  existence  of  the  human  Soul  upon 
the  earth. 

The  human  Psychic  is  one  in  Consciousness. 

It  is  three  in  Manifestation. 

(g.)  Can  this  formula  be  justified  ?  Let  us  see.  Close 
your  eyes,  kind  reader,  and  ask  yourself  the  question,  "  How 
many  am  I  ?  " 

You  will  never  get  other  answer  than  the  declaration  o{ 
the  oneness  of  the  Ego,  "  I  am  I."  Nor  has  Philosophy  on 
this  side  of  the  question  advanced  a  single  step  since  the 
days  of  Aristotle.  If  you  should  interrogate  the  Ego  at  in- 
tervals of  ten,  twenty,  sixty  years,  the  same  answer  would 
come  back  out  of  the  deeps  of  your  consciousness,  "  One  Be- 
ing in  the  midst  of  many  changes !  " 

We  thus  arrive  at  the  most  central  fact  in  human  experi- 
ence, that  the  SouL  is  one  in  consciousness. 

Let  us  examine  the  second  part  of  our  proposition.  "  It 
is  three  in  Manifestation" 

One  day  you  are  sick,  and  are  tossing  uneasily  upon  your 
pillow.  The  nurse  brings  to  your  bedside  a  bouquet  of  flow- 
ers. You  turn  your  head  and  open  your  eyes.  "  They  are 
beautiful ! "  you  say,  with  the  intoned  voice  almost  of  song. 
Their  perfume  reaches  you.  "  Exquisite  !  "  you  exclaim. 
"Let  me  hold  them  in  my  hands!"  And  you  comment 
upon  their  arrangement,  form,  and  color.  And  now  you  say, 
"  Who  could  have  sent  them,  and  arranged  wijth  so  much 
taste,  too  ?  " 


TRIADS  OF  EXPRESSION.  23 

"  Ah !  here  is  a  letter !  "  You  open  it  and  glance  at  the 
writing;  tears  fill  your  eyes,  there  is  a  choking  at  the 
throat.  "  How  kind  and  thoughtful !  "  you  exclaim. 

Now,  note  the  significant  order  of  your  action.  You  first 
heard  the  nurse's  step  and  voice.  You  turned  your  head 
and  saw  the  flowers.  Then  their  perfume  greeted  you. 
Then  you  spoke  with  an  intoned  voice.  Such  were  your 
sensations.  Such,  too,  your  emotions,  stimulated  by  your 
sensations. 

At  the  same  time  that  these  feelings  were  aroused,  you 
took  note  of  the  various  objects  surrounding  you.  When 
you  spoke  of  the  arrangement,  form,  and  color  of  the  com- 
posite whole  presented  you  in  the  bouquet,  you  used  dis- 
criminating words.  If  you  had  gone  on  to  note  accurately 
resemblances  or  differences  of  structure,  the  mental  nature 
would  have  prompted  you  to  use  words  of  scientific  im- 
port. 

And  what  a  complex  of  Vital,  Emotive,  and  Mental  strug- 
gled for  supremacy,  when  you  read  the  letter.  Memory  ran 
on  a  swift  errand  to  hunt  for  the  sender  of  the  flowers. 
Imagination  drew  a  heightened  picture  of  the  form,  face, 
and  voice  of  the  sender.  You  were  reading  on,  when  the 
unexpected  happened.  A  single  phrase  of  the  letter  caught 
your  eye,  and  a  torrent  of  feeling  —  how  different  from 
thought !  —  flooded  out  from  your  psychic  centre.  Such 
were  the  manifestations  of  that  marvelous  entity,  dwelling 
within  its  tabernacle  of  flesh  ! 

Now,  ask  yourself,  was  it  the  same  Being  that  gave  forth 
these  diverse  phenomena  ? 

The  illustration  we  have  just  given,  if  thought  upon,  will 
convince  the  student  that  these  three  phases  or  states  of  the 
Being  seldom  appear  in  any  expression  as  single,  separate, 
and  distinct,  so  that  we  may  find  no  trace  of  the  others. 

Mantegazza  has  well  stated  this  point :  "It  rarely  hap- 
pens that  an  emotion  is  expressed  as  a  simple  state.  It  is 
more  often  a  binary,  or  even  a  threefold  combination."  l 

1  La  Physionomie  et  ^Expression  des  Sentiments.  Par  P.  Mante- 
gazza. Paris. 


24  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

We  confidently  state,  as  a  practical  conclusion 
which  any  one  may  verify,  either  by  reflecting 
upon  his  own  states,  or  by  observing  others' 
moods,  that  in  the  expression  of  any  given  pas- 
sion, one  of  the  three  states  of  the  Being  leads, 
while  the  other  two  assist.  In  most  of  our  ex- 
pressions it  is  quite  easy  to  detect  blends  or  com- 
posites of  the  three  Primary  States. 

These  considerations,  doubtless,  led  Delsarte 
to  a  constant  and  critical  observation  of  all  the 
phenomena  of  the  Psychic  as  exhibited  in  the 
every-day  gestures,  tones,  and  speech  of  people 
about  him. 

Delsarte  is  reported  to  have  formulated,  in 
synthetic  tables,  the  expressions  of  each  agent. 
Thus  the  gestures  of  the  head,  torso,  hand, 
face,  eye,  were  put  into  synthetic  tables,  and 
these  tables  were  called  "  the  nine  squares." 

(g.)  There  can  be  little  doubt  that  Delsarte  held  a  form 
of  transcendental  philosophy  which  had  hardly  crystallized, 
at  the  time  of  his  death,  into  logical  statement.  We  have 
direct  evidence  that  he  thought  it  somehow  possible  to  re- 
duce all  the  phenomena  of  Expression  to  the  rule  of  Law ; 
and  that  the  hidden  laws  of  Expression  had  a  definite 
agreement  with  the  idea  of  the  Trinity.  Hence  the  syn- 
thetic tables  of  threes  and  multiples  of  three.  In  support 
of  our  hypothesis  we  quote  the  words  of  two  of  his  intimate 
students. 

Angelique  Arnaud  *  says  :  "  The  principle  of  the  Delsarte 
system  lies  in  the  statement  that  there  is  in  the  world  a  uni- 
versal formula  which  may  be  applied  to  all  sciences,  to  all 
things  possible.  This  formula  is  The  Trinity." 

1  See  The  Art  of  Oratory,  System  of  Delsarte.  By  Edgar  S.Werner. 
Albany,  N.  Y. 


TRIADS  OF  EXPRESSION. 


25 


And  Delaumosne  :  "  All  phenomena,  spiritual  as  well  as 
material,  must  be  considered  under  three  or  nine  aspects,  or 
not  be  understood." 

We  reproduce  one  of  "  the*  Nine  Squares  "  as 
given  by  Delaumosne. 

CRITERION  OF  THE  STATES  OF  THE  BEING. 

DELAUMOSNE.1 


State  of  the 
Being  as  Pri- 
mary, or 
Genus. 

Derivatives,  Species,  or  Blends. 

1. 

3. 

2. 

II. 

Mental. 

i-n. 

Vito-Mental. 

3-II. 

Emoto-Mental. 

2-n. 

Mento-Mental. 

III. 
Emotive. 

i-m. 

Vito-Emotive. 

3-m. 

Emoto-Emotive. 

2-m. 

Mento-Emotive. 

I. 

Vital. 

1-1. 

Vito-Vital. 

3-1. 
Emoto-Vital. 

2-1. 

Mento-Vital. 

The  vertical  columns  are  for  species,  deriva- 
tives, or  blends. 

The  horizontal  planes  are  for  the  genus,  or 
primary. 

The  name  that  marks  the  species  comes  first. 
It  is  the  adjective. 

The  name  that  marks  the  genus  comes  last. 
It  is  the  noun.  It  may  have  before  it  one  or  two 
adjectives  expressing  "  blends." 

In  the  middle  horizontal  plane,  we  plate  the 

1  This  table  agrees  with  Delaumosne,  except  that  the  author  has 
used  the  term  "  Emotive  "  in  place  of  "  Moral,"  for  reasons  already 
stated. 


26  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

Emotive  genus.     In  the  middle  vertical  column 
the  Emotive  species. 

(h.)  The  student  wilf  note  that  in  the  left  vertical  column 
are  found  the  three  Primary  states  of  the  Being,  —  The 
Mental,  Emotive,  and  Vital,  —  marked  with  the  Roman 
numerals  II.,  III.,  I. 

At  the  right  of  this  column  are  the  Nine  Squares,  each 
square  presenting  a  " blend,"  or  "composite,"  consisting  of 
two  elements :  a  primary  state  as  the  noun,  and  a  secondary, 
or  assisting  state,  as  the  adjective. 

These  secondary  states  are  marked  with  the  Arabic 
figures  1,  3,  2,  and  are  read  as  1,  Vito ;  3,  Emoto ;  2, 
Mento. 

It  will  be  readily  seen  that  triple  blends  can  be  put  into 
each  of  these  squares.  Such  blends  would  represent  com- 
plex psychic  states,  such  as  every  human  being  has  again 
and  again  experienced. 

We  diagram  three  triads  of  composite  states;  each  of 
the  three  states,  in  turn,  being  primary.  Let  the  student 
remember  that  these  diagrams  are  only  convenient  forms  for 
representing  the  indivisible  Unity,  the  Soul. 


_ Mento— 2. 

THE  PSYCHIC  '\  -,/._,T.i__. 

(1)  AS      #  -".v.-.V. ^comPlex... Emoto— 3. 

UKITT.          °r  Wend. 

Vital— I. 


Tito— 1. 

Mento_2. 


PSYCHIC. or  blend. 

Emotive — TTT. 

Emoto— 3. 

(3) 


PSYCHIC. 

•  Mental— IL 

We  again  quote  Mantegazza  :  "  An  emotion  is  seldom  ex- 
pressed as  a  simple  state.  It  is  more  often  a  binary,  or 
even  a  threefold  combination." 


TRIADS  OF  EXPRESSION.  27 

That  the  student  may  more  fully  realize  that 
our  division  of  the  Psychic  in  man  does  not 
differ  in  any  essential  point  from  the  conclusions 
of  modern  psychology,  we  present  a  diagram,  to 
which  we  ask  serious  attention :  — 

.-  It  Thinks.  I  In**l**i  from  Perception  to 


the       -   '  ItF«.l 

on-*  £  ..............................        **     \ 


(Sensations.  Feelings  arising 
in  the  bodily  framework. 


Body  ad  con- 

tromngits  ac-  ......  ...  <•     in  the  mental  framework. 

tion  """"••• 

(  Will.    The  determining  pow- 
-  It  Wills.  {     er.  The  direct  Agent  of  the 

(     Psychic. 

One  other  statement  seems  necessary  to  a  clear 
comprehension  of  the  meaning  of  certain  forms 
of  Gesture,  which  will  be  presented  further  on 
in  our  treatise. 

The  Psychic  in  man  exists  in  two  conditions 
in  relation  to  its  environment. 

1.  As  Active.     2.  As  Passive. 

This  difference  is  incorporated  in  the  nervous 
system. 

Connected  with  the  Passive  side  of  our  na- 
ture are  the  organs  and  faculties  of  sight, 
hearing,  taste,  smell,  touch,  and  organic  sensi- 
bility generally.  This  side  of  our  nature  is 
receptive. 

Connected  with  the  Active  side  are  the  muscu- 
lar system  and  the  nerves  which  govern  it.  Thus 
with  the  sense  organs  and  skin  is  allied  our  Pas- 
sive, or  Receptive  nature.  And  with  the  muscles 
is  allied  our  Active  nature. 

It  will  be  found  that  these  two  conditions  of 


28  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

the  Psychic,  incorporated  in  the  physical  struc- 
ture, determine  the  form  and  direction  of  all 
our  gestures. 

Having  stated  our  psychological  grounds  with 
what  clearness  we  have  found  possible,  we  come 
to  the  practical  question,  How  does  the  Psychic 
manifest  itself  ?  We  ask  the  student's  thought- 
ful attention  to  our  answer. 

Man  manifests  the  three  states  of  the  Being 
through : 

1.  The  body  as  a  whole. 

2.  Through  its  divisions,  tracts,  or  zones. 

3.  Through  three  special  organs,  which  are 
the  three  special  agents  of  the  three  states  of 
the  Psychic. 

These  special  organs  are  :  — 
I.  The  Phonetic.    III.   The  Muscular.    And 
II.   The  Articulatory. 

I.  The  Phonetic  manifests  more  completely 
the  Vital  state  of  the  Being. 

III.  The  Muscular  manifests  more  completely 
the  Emotive  state  of  the  Being. 

II.  The  Articulatory   manifests  more  com- 
pletely the  Mental  state  of  the  Being. 

Yet  each  of  these  special  organs  manifests  in 

greater  .or  less  degree  the  other  states.     Each  is 

special.     Each  is  also  general. 

Let  us  consider  these  agents  in  detail :  — 
The  Phonetic  organ  is  that  instrument  which 

gives  forth  sound,  voice,  and  modulations  oj 

voice. 


TRIADS  OF  EXPRESSION.  29 

It  is  Nature's  instrument  for  manifesting  to 
the  ear  the  Life  element  of  the  Being. 

It  is  a  tone  instrument,  and  spontaneously 
gives  forth  the  fundamental  tones  of  the  musical 
scale. 

Music  grew  into  Art  as  this  instrument  became 
more  and  more  differentiated  from  the  breathing- 
tube  of  the  mammals.  And  the  ear  kept  pace 
with  the  differentiated  trachea. 

So,  no  hearing,  no  speech.  No  discriminating 
ear,  no  artist  in  song  or  speech.  The  con- 
genite  deaf  are  also  dumb.  The  bird  is  Nature's 
symbol  of  tone.  It  is  materialized  hearing  and 
song. 

Man,  through  his  physical  structure,  is  of  the 
class  Mammalia.  All  mammals  give  voice  to 
the  Life  within  them,  and  thus  disclose  their 
natures. 

The  flesh-eating  mammals,  the  lion,  the  tiger, 
the  wolf,  give  forth  an  aggressive,  forceful,  and 
vital  voice,  in  the  major  key,  which  corresponds 
with  actions  of  seizing,  holding,  and  tearing 
prey. 

The  herbivora  utter  plaintive  and  unaggres- 
sive  tones,  mainly  in  the  minor  key,  which  cor* 
respond  with  their  peaceful  intent,  and  which 
carry  an  appeal  to  our  sympathies. 

The  voice  of  man,  with  its  varying  sounds, 
5s  a  synthesis  of  the  voices  of  all  the  animals. 

His  larynx  is  the  last  step  of  differentiation  in 


30  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

an  animal  breathing-tube.  So  the  Vital  nature 
of  man  finds  its  primary  agent  for  its  expres- 
sion in  the  Phonetic  organ. 

(i.)  The  babe  is  an  epitome  of  the  human  race.  His 
unfolding  symbolizes  its  advance. 

The  babe  reflects  the  passive  Vital  nature,  with  latent 
Emotive  and  Mental. 

As  baby  lies  in  the  cradle,  it  is  only  a  step  in  advance  of 
a  lump  of  protoplasm. 

It  is  merely  an  organized  possibility. 

It  lives.  It  is  the  race  symbol  of  the  Vital,  and  the  help- 
less Vital.  It  neither  thinks,  nor  loves,  nor  hates.  Its 
Emotive  and  Mental  natures  are  embryonic.  It  is  sensitive, 
because  it  is  an  animal  organism. 

So  it  can  best  illustrate  the  first  law  of  Life,  imposed 
upon  it  at  birth,  which  is  Want. 

The  cry  it  uttered  when  it  entered  the  world  was  the  cry 
of  organic  Want,  which  was  satisfied  when  the  air  filled  its 
lungs. 

Born  a  subject  into  the  kingdom  of  Want,  it  will  from 
this  time  forth  begin  to  group  all  its  sensations  into  two 
classes.  Those  of  Pleasure,  when  Want  is  satisfied ;  and  of 
Pain,  when  Want  is  answered  by  denial.  These  sensations 
centre  its  Vital  nature.  It  puts  them  into  cries,  wails,  and 
reflex  motions.  The  great  poet  of  insight  and  rhythm  voices 
the  cry  of  the  helpless  Vital  of  the  new-born  babe  :  — 

"  What  am  I  ? 
An  infant  crying  in  the  night : 

An  infant  crying  for  the  light : 
And  with  no  language  but  a  cry." 

TENNYSON. 

The  second  special  organ  of  manifestation  is 
the  Muscular  apparatus. 

Through  muscles  all  movements  of  the  human 
body  are  made. 


TRIADS  OF  EXPRESSION.  31 

Without  muscle  in  motion,  no  expression  is 
possible. 

In  the  last  analysis,  all  expression  is  muscle 
in  motion. 

The  problem  in  gesture  is  how  to  present 
form  and  to  move  muscle  in  accordance  with 
aesthetic  law. 

We  shall  find  that  the  muscles,  more  especially 
of  the  face,  as  civilization  has  advanced,  have 
differentiated  in  a  marked  manner  from  the  Vital 
type  to  serve  the  Emotive  nature  of  man.  So 
the  muscular  play  that  served  the  coarse  animal 
sensations  of  primitive  man  has,  to-day,  become 
the  facile  agent  of  the  Emotive  nature. 

(/.)  We  found  that  the  babe  gave  expression  to  its  organic 
sensations  of  pleasure  and  pain  by  the  cry,  the  wail,  and 
spontaneous  motions. 

This  was  the  first  stage  of  its  Being.  When  there  began 
to  stir  within  it  a  psychic  movement  of  blend  d  Sensation 
and  Emotion,  by  which  it  dimly  and  obscurely  recognized 
its  mother's  caress,  it  smiled. 

The  child  has  now  advanced  to  the  second  stage  of  its 
Being.  It  adds  now  the  smile  and  frown  to  the  cry  and  wail. 
It  does  not  think  yet.  Its  psychic  state  may  be  described  as 
nebulous  and  chaotic.  Its  open  stare  into  the  face  of  exist- 
ence, the  spontaneous  play  of  its  fingers  and  toes,  show  plainly 
that  it  has  not  yet  been  able  to  separate  itself  from  objects 
surrounding  it,  nor  its  body  from  itself. 

But  baby  feels  ;  and  it  is  a  higher  kind  of  feeling  than 
that  which  prompted  the  cry  and  the  wail.  From  this  time 
forward,  feelings  arising  in  the  mental  framework  will  more 
and  more  struggle  to  express  themselves. 

As  the  affectional  nature  is  aroused  by  its  mother's  smile 
and  voice,  it  springs,  and  caresses  with  its  little  hands,  crows 


32  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

its  content,  and  jubilates  with  the  first  rudiments  of  the  in- 
toned voice. 

Now,  too,  it  makes  tentative  efforts  to  combine  the  two 
languages,  that  of  the  voice  and  that  of  the  gesture. 

"With  a  serious  impartiality  it  smiles  at,  and  reaches  for, 
the  moon,  seen  through  the  window ;  or  babbles  its  content 
at  the  red  flames  in  the  grate  ;  or  beats  the  cradle  with 
papa's  watch  or  the  tin  soldier ;  and  rejoices  its  whole  being 
with  the  incipient  rhythm  of  immense  musical  promise,  in 
the  dance  of  sound  which  it  pulses  out  from  the  discordant 
rattle. 

The  third  special  organ  of  manifestation  is 
the  Articulatory  Apparatus. 

The  action  of  the  articulatory  apparatus  gives, 
as  its  product,  speech. 

As  by  the  differentiation  of  the  breathing- 
tube,  common  to  all  mammals,  man  attained  to 
a  superior  organ  of  voice,  so  the  differentiation 
of  the  mouth  cavity  and  its  contained  organs 
gave  him  the  instrument  of  articulate  lan- 
guage. 

This  is  the  special  organ  of  the  Mental  Being ; 
the  last  structural  differentiation,  both  in  the 
individual  and  in  the  race. 

Through  the  action  of  this  agent,  man  can 
put  a  sound  in  the  place  of  a  thing  and  so  not 
need  to  present  the  thing.  By  recording  these 
sounds,  he  can  make  all  the  past  become  pres- 
ent and  now.  It  is  greatly  significant  that  the 
Greek  language  has  but  one  word  for  language 
and  reason;  for  what  is  a  man's  word  but  his 
reason  coming  forth  to  behold  itself  ? 


TRIADS  OF  EXPRESSION.  33 

(k.)  The  child  has  now  reached  the  third  and  last  stage  of 
its  development.  To  manifestations  of  the  Vital  and  Emo- 
tive natures  he  now  adds  those  of  the  Mental.  He  now 
thinks,  feels,  and  lives.  What  he  cannot  say  by  cries  and 
gestures,  he  begins  to  say  by  jointed  sounds,  as  signs  of 
things.  The  flame  that  was  to  him  an  unnamed  sensation 
of  sight  is  now  "  red." 

The  planet  is  "moon  ;"  the  aggregate  of  form,  fur,  and 
"  meaw  "  is  now  "  cat." 

And  before  long,  when  he  wants  to  say  five  or  seven  things 
about  the  fire,  moon,  or  cat,  or  about  mother,  book,  or 
school,  he  puts  two  or  more  of  the  things  into  words. 

Soon  he  will  prefigure  in  sentences  what  he  thinks,  with 
much  that  he  wills  and  feels. 

Take  away  the  faculty  of  language,  and  he  will  inevitably 
revert  to  the  Vital.  He  will  go  back  to  animal  cries  and 
gestures. 

Said  Noire :  "  When  there  was  no  language  there  was 
no  reason." 

And  now  occurs  the  question  :  By  what  means 
does  the  body,  with  its  separate  divisions  and  its 
specialized  organs,  manifest  this  threefold  Being, 
speak  this  threefold  language  ? 

The  answer  to  this  question  discloses  the 
centre  and  core  of  the  Synthetic  Philosophy  of 
Expression. 

What  Inflections  are  in  the  system  of  Walker, 
what  Stress  in  the  system  of  Rush,  is  Delsarte's 
formula  in  the  New  Philosophy  of  Expression. 

This  formula  is  central,  in  all  human  expres- 
sion, and  bears  the  force  of  law. 

Law :  The  three  States  of  the  Psychic 
manifest  through  the  body  and  its  zones  by 
three  Modes  of  Motion. 


34  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

These  three  modes  of  motion  are :  I.  Eccen- 
tric, or  Centrifugal.  II.  Concentric,  or  Centrip- 
etal. And  III.  Poise ;  or  Centred  motion. 

Eccentric  motion  is  motion  from  a  centre  out- 
wards ;  Concentric,  towards  a  centre,  inwards ; 
and  Poise  is  centred,  or  balanced,  motion. 

That  the  human  Psychic  and  its  body  come 
under  the  sway  and  rule  of  the  cosmic  laws  that 
govern  all  the  masses  of  matter  of  the  universe  ; 
and  that  it  also  centres  in  and  controls  its  own 
mass,  and  moves  outwards  from,  or  inwards  to- 
wards, or  poises  at,  its  own  centre,  is  Delsarte's 
great  discovery. 

(I.)  We  can  credit  a  saying  of  Delsarte,  reported  by  a 
student  of  the  great  teacher :  — 

"  In  this  world  there  are  two  centres,  towards  which  and 
from  which  everything  tends.  These  are  :  — 

"  1.  The  centre  of  gravity,  immediately  of  the  earth ; 
remotely  of  the  universe. 

"  2.  The  human  centre  found  within  ourselves,  the  centre 
of  the  Being  or  Ego." 

To  which  we  add :  3.  The  spiritual  centre,  out  from 
which  and  into  which  flow  all  existences.  Of  which  centre 
the  material  universe  is  the  body  ;  itself  is  sustaining  cause 
and  continuance. 

Thus  it  is  through  motion,  and  only  through 
motion,  that  the  Psychic  makes  itself  known  0 
Through  motion  the  unseen  is  seen.  Broadly 
speaking,  our  Vital  states  express  themselves  as 
Eccentric  motion;  our  Mental  states  as  Con- 
centric motion  ;  our  Emotive  states  as  Eccen- 
tric or  Concentric,  according  to  the  nature  of 


TRIADS  OF  EXPRESSION.  35 

\ 

the  emotion.  And  the  Poise  of  the  Being 
(namely,  the  equilibrium  or  balance  of  Vital, 
Emotive,  and  Mental)  tends  to  express  itself  by 
motion  held  at  rest;  that  is  to  say,  by  a  centred 
or  poised  external. 

Let  us  put  our  conclusions  into  a  proposition 
which  carries  the  force  of  law. 

In  all  organisms,  simplest  or  most  complex, 
motion  is  manifestation  ;  at  the  base  Life,  at 
the  summit  Soul. 

(m.)  See  how  true  this  is !  We  all  use  the  phrase, 
"  Where  there  is  motion  there  is  Life."  This  is  our  simple 
test,  and  every  one  applies  the  logic  of  common  sense,  and 
abides  by  the  result. 

Thus,  for  example,  we  are  walking  along  the  seashore ; 
we  find  on  the  beach  a  crab.  Is  it  alive  ?  one  asks.  Poke 
it  with  your  cane  and  see  !  Yes ;  it  reacts.  It  is  alive. 

So  we  can  construct  the  chain  of  Being  from  the  monera 
to  man. 

In  all  sentient  organisms  motion  is  manifestation.  In 
the  lowest  animals,  motion  is  evidence  of  the  simplest  con- 
dition of  Life.  In  the  higher  animals,  motion  is  evidence  of 
a  complex  condition.  In  the  highest  animals,  nearest  man, 
as  the  dog  and  horse,  motion  is  evidence  of  a  still  further 
complex  condition  of  the  Psychic.  In  man,  motion  is  evi- 
dence of  the  highest  complexity  attained  by  any  animal  upon 
the  earth. 

Now  we  find  that  through  the  entire  chain  of  sentient 
life,  until  we  reach  man,  the  only  mode  of  motion  which 
any  animal  can  consciously  use  is  the  eccentric,  which  mani- 
fests  the  Vital  nature.  Man  alone  —  a  fact  of  vast  sig- 
nificance —  consciously  commands  the  three  modes,  the 
Eccentric,  Concentric,  and  Poise.1 

The  Emotive  nature,  variously  described  by 

1  It  will  be  noted  that  the  terms  descriptive  of  Motion,  Eccentric, 


86  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

the  disciples  of  Delsarte  as  "Moral,"  "Affective/' 
"Spiritual,"  "Mystic,"  and  like  terms,  exists  in 
man  in  two  conditions :  1.  As  Active  Emotive. 
2.  As  Receptive  Emotive.  This  difference  is 
incorporated  in  the  nervous  system,  and  it  is  be- 
cause of  this  difference  that  the  Emotive  nature 
sometimes  expresses  itself  through  either  of  the 
three  forms  of  motion. 

We  may  say,  broadly,  that  active  emotions, 
which  ally  themselves  with  the  Vital  nature,  de- 
clare themselves  by  eccentric  motions,  while  the 
reflective  emotions,  which  ally  themselves  with 
the  Mental  nature,  declare  themselves  by  concen- 
tric motions. 

The  structure  and  function  of  the  nervous  sys- 
tem bear  out  our  statement. 

The  nervous  system  reaches  out  with  its  white 
threads  towards  its  environment.  It  receives  im- 
pressions from  the  outer  world.  These  impres- 
sions travel  inwards  along  the  nerve  lines.  At 
the  great  neural  centre,  the  brain,  they  are  re- 
ceived, correlated,  and  coordinated.  Now  if  the 
impressions  received  lead  to  reflection,  to  turning 
over  and  over  in  the  mind  what  is  received,  the 

Concentric,  and  Poise,  are  identical  with  Centrifugal,  Centripetal,  and 
Centred  or  Motion  held  in  balance. 

As  these  last  terms  have  already  been  adopted  as  scientific  usage,  it 
is  an  open  question  whether  it  would  not  be  better  to  use  them  in 
the  nomenclature  of  Expression.  Another  consideration  favors  the 
use  of  well-known  and  recognized  terms,  namely,  the  absolute  neces- 
sity we  are  under,  in  these  days  of  research,  when  all  theories  are  sifted 
as  never  before,  to  present  a  logical  and  consistent  body  of  truth,  if 
we  would  claim  a  place  among  the  recognized  sciences  for  this  latest 
child  of  the  Soul  —  the  Science  of  Human  Expression. 


TRIADS  OF  EXPRESSION.  37 

gestures  accompanying  these  psychic  states  would 
be  mainly  concentric. 

Thus,  emotions  of  Grief,  if  dwelt  upon,  en- 
dured, suffered,  would  lead  to  gestures  with  con- 
centric motion.  But  suppose  Grief  to  be  accom- 
panied with  the  idea  of  wrong  or  injustice ;  the 
gestures,  expressive  of  the  active  state,  would 
take  on  Vital  forms  and  become  eccentric. 

But  suppose  the  events  causing  the  emotion 
are  thought  upon,  passed  through  the  various 
mental  processes,  and,  moreover,  that  this  think- 
ing is  submitted  to  conscience  and  to  the  higher 
reason;  the  gestures  indicating  this  complexity 
of  thought  and  emotion  would  take  on  bal- 
anced or  poised  forms,  —  the  most  expressive 
forms  that  the  body  or  its  agents  can  present. 

What  a  wonderful  complexity  of  psychic  states 
is  revealed  by  these  lines  from  Shakespeare's 
King  John,  giving  us  mainly  Mental  and  Emo- 
tive composites  of  Grief  :  — 

"  Grief  fills  the  room  up  of  my  absent  child, 
Lies  in  his  bed,  walks  up  and  down  with  me, 
Puts  on  his  pretty  looks,  repeats  his  words, 
Remembers  me  of  all  his  gracious  parts, 
Stuffs  out  his  vacant  garments  with  his  form." 

Here  the  reflective  states  suggest  concentric 
gestures. 

Let  us  formulate  the  Law  of  Motion  as  reveal- 
ing inner  states  of  the  Being. 

Law :  I.  The  Vital  nature  tends  to  express 
itself  through  eccentric  motion. 

II.   The  Mental  nature  stills  or  renders  qui- 


38  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

escent  the  body,  and  tends  to  express  itself 
through  concentric  motion. 

III.  The  Emotive  nature  reflects  both  the 
Vital  and  Mental  natures;  hence,  uses  both 
their  forms  of  motion.  Thus,  our  highest 
Emotive  states  manifest  themselves  through 
poise. 

When  the  Being  is  at  its  best,  and  the  three 
natures  act  in  accord  to  further  some  great  idea, 
practical,  ethical,  or  spiritual,  it  always  tends  to 
express  itself  through  poise  or  balance  of  mo- 
tion. 

(n.)  Feeling  and  Thought  are  the  opposite  poles  of  our 
psychic  states.  In  such  broad  contrast  are  they  that  they 
mutually  exclude  each  other  in  extreme  manifestations. 

As  every  one  knows  who  has  experienced  these  states  at 
their  strongest,  intense  feeling  excludes  thinking;  intense 
thinking  excludes  feeling. 

Hence,  the  normal  condition  for  clear  thinking  is  the  qui- 
escence of  feeling ;  and  it  is  well  known  that  interest  in  an- 
other's welfare,  partisanship,  affection,  are  each  and  all  the 
enemies  of  a  judicial  frame  of  mind. 

Let  us  epitomize  the  Law  of  Motion  of  the  three  natures. 
The  Vital  moves  the  body,  the  Mental  arrests  and  stills  it, 
the  Emotive  poises  it. 

Take  an  illustration :  It  is  related  of  Socrates  that  he  was 
observed  by  his  friends  in  the  early  morning  facing  the  east 
and  looking  intently  into  the  blue  ether.  He  was  let  alone. 
At  noon  he  was  still  there.  Not  a  muscle  was  in  motion. 
Men  said,  "  Will  he  never  come  in  ?  "  At  night  he  was 
there,  motionless  as  a  statue  of  Phidias.  Then  his  friends 
took  their  stations  and  watched.  Through  the  long  night 
he  stood,  still  peering  into  the  east,  and  startling  the  stars. 
As  the  sun  arose  he  dropped  his  eyes.  His  body  took  on  its 


TRIADS  OF  EXPRESSION. 


39 


life  again.  Drawing  up  the  figure  into  enlarged  form,  and 
looking  around,  "  The  problem  is  solved ! "  he  said,  and 
strode  away. 

We   present    Delaumosne's   Criterion   of  the 
Three  Modes  of  Motion. 

CRITERION  OF  THE  THREE  MODES  OF  MOTION. 
DBLAUMOSNE.1 


Mode  of  Mo- 
tion, as  Primary 
or  Genus. 

Derivatives,  Species,  or  Blends. 

1. 

3. 

2. 

II. 

Concentric. 

l-II. 

Eccentro-Concen- 
tric. 

3-H. 

Poise-Concentric. 

2-IL 

Concentro-Concen- 
tric. 

HI. 
Poise. 

i-m. 

Eccentro-Poise. 

3-in. 

Poise-Poise. 

2-IIL 
Concentro-Poise. 

I. 

Eccentric. 

1-L 

Eccentro-Eccentric. 

3-1. 
Poise-Eccentric. 

2-1. 

Concentro-Eccen- 
tric. 

The  vertical  columns  are  for  species,  deriva- 
tives, or  blends. 

The  horizontal  planes  are  for  the  genus  or  pri- 
mary. 

The  name  that  marks  the  species  comes  first; 
it  is  the  adjective.  The  name  that  marks  the 
genus  comes  last ;  it  is  the  noun. 

In  the  middle  horizontal  plane  we  place  the 
Emotive  genus;  in  the  middle  vertical  column, 
the  Emotive  species. 

1  This  synthetic  table  agrees  with  Delaumosne,  except  that  the  au- 
thor has  used  the  term  "Poise "  instead  of  " Normal." 


40  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

(o.)  Delaumosne's  table  presents  double  blends  of  motion. 
The  student  will  note  that  in  the  left  vertical  column  are 
found  the  three  primary  modes  of  motion,  —  the  Eccentric, 
Poise,  and  Concentric,  —  marked  with  the  Roman  numerals 

L,  in.,  ii. 

At  the  right  of  this  column  are  the  Nine  Squares,  each 
square  presenting  a  "  blend  "  or  "  composite,"  consisting  of 
two  elements,  —  a  primary  as  the  noun,  and  a  secondary  or 
assisting  mode  of  motion  as  the  adjective. 

These  assisting  modes  of  motion  are  marked  with  the 
Arabic  figures,  —  1.  Eccentric.  3.  Poise.  2.  Concentric. 

We  diagram  three  triads  of  composite  modes  of  motion, 
each  of  the  three  modes  in  turn  being  Primary. 


Concentre—  2. 


Eccentric  —  L 


Poise  — m. 
•Poiae— 3. 


THE         -**""  -«, 

(3)  #'.v.:.::.-.-.;y Motion.     Eccentro  —  *• 

Concentric  — IL 

We  have  thus  far  attempted  to  establish  the 
truth  of  the  following  propositions  :  — 

I.  The  source  of  all  manifestation,  both  in 
the  Universe  and  in  its  epitome,  Man,  is  Es- 
sence, Spirit,  or  Soul. 

There  is  and  can  be  no  manifestation  that  has 
not  for  its  cause  Essence,  Spirit,  or  Psychic. 

II.  That  through  or  by  which  the  Psychic, 
whether  Infinite   or  finite,  manifests  itself  is 
body,  apparition,  or  phenomenon. 


TRIADS  OF  EXPRESSION.  41 

III.  The  mode  of  manifestation  of  the 
Psychic,  whether  in  the  Universe  or  in  man, 
is  through  Motion. 

There  are  three  modes  of  Motion  by  which 
all  manifestation  is  made  apparent.  These 
three  modes  are  Eccentric,  Concentric,  and 
Poise.  And  the  mode  of  Motion  (Outer)  dis- 
closes the  state  of  Being  (Inner). 

(I.)  Whatever  may  be  the  real,  substantial  truth  or  verity, 
as  apprehended  by  any  higher  intelligence  than  man,  of  the 
problem  presented  by  the  Universe,  the  simple  fact  remains 
that  it  is  impossible  to  conceive  a  Kosmos  where  blind,  un- 
conscious matter  evolves  out  of  itself,  by  its  own  potency, 
the  phenomena  of  mind. 

Human  logic  as  irresistibly  leaps  to  the  conclusion  that 
God  is  centre  and  soul  of  the  Universe,  as  that  man  is  centre 
and  soul  of  his  own  organism. 

And  this  is  the  conclusion  of  the  greatest  English  philo- 
sophic thinker.  Mr.  Herbert  Spencer  says  :  "  The  laws  of 
Nature  are  the  modes  of  action  of  the  Unknowable."  And 
Goethe  put  the  same  thought  into  poetic  phrase  when  he 
said :  "  Nature  is  the  garment  thou  seest  Him  by  !  " 

How  this  comes  about  is  quite  another  matter.  That  no 
man  has  seen  God  is  not  so  very  strange ;  for  no  man  has 
seen  man. 

Show  me  a  soul  outside  the  body,  and  we  may  hope  to 
see  with  mortal  eyes  the  Soul  outside  the  Kosmos ! 

No  matter,  let  me  again  urge,  no  matter  what  the  real 
nature  of  the  phenomena  of  the  Universe,  as  known  to 
higher  intelligences  —  our  limitations  inexorably  shut  us  in 
to  the  conclusion  that  a  spiritual  essence  is  behind  all  phe- 
nomena, both  of  the  Universe  and  of  man. 

The  Philosophy  of  Expression,  then,  is  the 
Philosophy  of  Manifestation. 


42  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

In  its  broadest  sense  it  is  the  Philosophy  of 
the  Infinite,  as  revealed  in  the  Universe. 

In  its  restricted  sense  it  is  the  Philosophy  of 
Man,  as  revealed  through  the  Organism. 


CHAPTER  HI. 

THE     THREEFOLD     DIVISION     OF    THE    BODY    IN 

EXPRESSION. THE    LAWS    OF    GESTURE.  — 

DELSARTE'S    DIVISION    INTO    NINE.  —  THEIR 
TRUE  BASIS. 

DELSARTE  is  reported  to  have  made  a  three- 
fold division  of  the  body  to  correspond  with  the 
threefold  division  of  the  Psychic.  He  divided 
the  exterior  into :  (1.)  the  Head ;  (2.)  the 
Torso;  (3.)  the  Limbs.  These  segments  he 
called  "  Agents  of  the  Soul."  And  not  only  is 
the  body,  as  a  whole,  expressive  of  the  Psychic ; 
but  to  each  division  of  the  body  is  delegated 
the  office  of  special  manifestation.  Thus  we 
may  indicate  broadly  the  office  in  expression  of 
the  segments. 

I.  The  Vital  nature  predominates  in  the 
Limbs,  and  is  manifested  through  their  activi- 
ties. 

"  No  grass  grows  under  his  feet/'  we  say  of 
the  active,  Vital  man. 

The  Romans  put  wings  on  the  feet  of  Mer- 
cury, the  swift  messenger  of  the  gods. 

III.  The  Emotive  nature  is  manifested 
through  gesture  and  form  of  the  Torso. 


44  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

This  segment  of  the  body  contains  the  heart 
and  lungs,  the  central  organs  of  the  blood  and 
breath.  Our  most  acute  pains  come  from  any 
disturbance  of  their  action. 

So  in  our  subjective  states,  in  great  accesses  of 
passion,  the  torso  writhes  and  rocks. 

II.  The  Mental  nature  manifests  itself 
through  gesture  and  form  of  the  Head. 

(a.)  It  is  not  without  reason,  as  we  shall  hope  abundantly 
to  show,  that  we  commonly  speak  of  the  heart  as  the  seat  of 
the  Emotions,  and  the  head  as  the  seat  of  the  Intellect. 

When  it  shall  be  found  that  all  races  of  men  make  sub- 
stantially the  same  gestures  to  express  ruling  psychic  states, 
these  gestures  must  have  a  deeper  reason  than  imitation  or 
convention. 

Again,  the  limbs  are  levers  and  sustain  mo- 
tion. The  head  guides;  the  torso  impels.  The 
legs  show  Vital  health  and  strength,  or  the  re- 
verse ;  the  arms,  Mental  health  and  streng^fi. 
Into  the  fingers  we  put  Mental  sensitiveness  and 
finesse.  We  bite  our  nails  in  reverie  or  vexation, 
and  we  use  the  tips  of  our  fingers  when  we  would 
illustrate  fine  Mental  distinctions,  or  urge  nice 
critical  points. 

Thus  the  whole  body  and  each  of  its  divisions 
become  revelations  to  him  who  can  read  their 
language. 

(b.)  Not  only  did  Delsarte  make  this  threefold  division 
of  the  exterior  to  express  the  three  states  of  the  Being, 
but  each  of  these  divisions  was  subdivided.  Thus  the  head, 
torso,  and  limbs  each  have  zones  or  tracts  where  the  Psychic 
seems,  by  preference,  to  manifest  itself  as  Vital,  Mental,  or 
Emotive. 


THREEFOLD  DIVISION  OF  THE  BODY.         45 

We  shall  attempt  to  show  that  the  existence  of  such  zones 
or  tracts  of  the  expressive  regions  of  the  head,  face,  torso, 
and  hand  is  proven  by  the  significance  of  the  gestures  of 
these  several  agents. 

And  we  think  it  will  be  seen  that  a  material  body  is  an  ab- 
solute necessity  under  the  conditions  imposed  by  its  environ- 
ment upon  the  Soul.  Were  the  roadways  between  souls  open 
avenues,  there  would  be  no  protection  for  the  personality. 
Through  the  body,  the  individual  soul  holds  itself  apart  from 
other  souls,  and  so  maintains  its  independence  and  integrity. 
Through  the  body,  it  both  declares  its  sympathy  and  masks 
its  antipathies. 

In  a  body,  every  human  soul  dates  its  appearance  upon 
the  earth.  It  will  limit  its  stay  upon  the  earth  to  the  con- 
tinuance of  its  body.  It  seeks  new  conditions  when  the  body 
no  longer  serves  its  ends.  It  as  naturally  falls  off  the  mor- 
tal bough  as  the  fully  ripened  fruit  falls  to  the  ground. 

Again,  we  must  strenuously  dissent  from  an  opinion  held 
in  some  minds,  that  the  soul  is  degraded  by  its  union  with 
the  body.  On  the  contrary,  there  is  increasing  evidence  that 
it  delights  in  its  temporary  abode.  It  delights  to  appear, 
express,  and  dramatize  itself,  through  its  body.  It  feels  no 
sense  of  degradation  in  this  alliance,  for  it  shows  its  pride  in 
its  recognition  of  an  ancestry  of  lower  material  forms,  by 
many  a  remnant  of  serviceable  organs  which  it  still  retains, 
and  by  many  a  gesture  which  it  delights  to  use,  and  which 
has  come  down  the  same  material  path  with  the  cerebral 
folds  and  the  added  chambers  of  the  heart. 

Take  a  single  illustration,  in  three  stages,  of 
iiow  the  body  translates  the  Vital  nature. 

1st  stage.  The  lowest  form  of  the  Vital  put  to 
toil :  the  plantation  slave,  or  the  Mexican  peon, 
where  almost  no  intelligence  is  used.  He  digs, 
lifts,  hews,  draws  as  an  animal.  Of  such  an  one 
Delaumosne  expressively  says :  "  His  body  is  all  of 


46  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

one  piece."  There  is  little  mobility  or  play  of 
the  joints ;  head  and  torso  stiff ;  arm  and  hand 
an  instrument  for  shoveling,  digging,  heaving, 
and  drawing.  Hand  attached  to  arm,  arm  to 
torso,  face  wooden  ;  movement  of  the  lower  limbs 
strong  but  automatic.  It  is  a  human  machine^ 
moved  by  the  Vital  Being. 

2d  stage.  A  higher  form  of  the  Vital.  The 
slave  or  serf  emancipated.  A  growing  sense  of 
personal  ownership  and  responsibility.  There 
now  comes  an  increased  freedom  of  movement,  a 
crude  blending  of  directive  and  Vital  power. 

The  torso  moves,  by  play  of  the  shoulders, 
without  much  movement  of  the  head.  There  is 
increased  freedom  of  the  arm  and  hand.  The 
face  is  less  wooden,  the  movement  less  animal- 
like. 

3d  stage.  The  well-defined  Vital,  with  high 
directive  powers,  put  to  selfish  and  aggressive 
ends.  The  higher  Emotive  does  not  rule  the 
conduct.  It  is  the  type  of  the  military  spirit.  It 
is  he  who  believes  in  physical  force.  Such  an 
one  says  :  "  God  is  on  the  side  of  the  strongest 
battalions."  He  believes  in  the  right  to  conquer, 
hold,  and  rule,  — 

"The  good  old  plan 
That  he  should  take  who  has  the  power, 
And  he  should  keep  who  can." 

In  a  lower  form,  under  the  influence  of  civiliza- 
tion, it  is  the  bully,  or  with  training,  the  prize* 
fighter. 


THREEFOLD  DIVISION  OF  THE  BODY.         47 

Now  head,  torso,  and  shoulders  play  freely, 
for  there  is  high  directive  power. 

And  now  note,  the  elbows  are  emancipated, 
and  the  lower  Emotive  nature  let  loose.  The 
hand  becomes  the  knotted  end  of  a  bludgeon. 
The  Vital  in  the  face  makes  the  firm-set  and  pro- 
truding under  jaw. 

It  is  a  human  correspondence  of  the  bulldog. 
Now  the  passion  grasps  the  larynx,  and  the  voice 
takes  on  the  throaty  qualities  of  the  carnivora. 

These  are  three  illustrations  from  the  lowest 
human  zone, — the  Vital. 

We  might  sketch  characters  all  along  the 
ascent  through  the  Mental  and  into  the  realm 
where  the  higher  Emotiye  nature  impels  man 
towards  ethical  and  spiritual  ends  and  purposes, 
giving  us  expressions  where  the  three  natures 
blend  in  poise  or  equilibrium. 

Now  there  is  balance  and  accord  of  all  the  out- 
ward agents.  Head,  torso,  and  limbs  move  from 
liberated  centres  of  motion.  The  wrist  is  free. 
It  communicates  its  freedom  to  the  hand  and 
fingers,  and  at  the  same  moment  both  faces,  the 
countenance  and  the  palm,  are  expressive. 

It  is  three  natures  moving  to  the  front  as 
one.  The  Will  lends  itself  to  the  central  Being 
Conscience  allies  itself  with  the  ruling  motive. 
It  is  man  at  his  best ! 

The  Vital  is  there  to  sustain,  as  Life.  The 
Mental  is  there  to  guide  and  direct,  as  Mind. 
The  Emotive,  moving  along  its  highest  plane  of 


48  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

the  ethical  and  spiritual,  is  there  to  impel,  as 
Soul. 

And  these  three  psychic  forces  attain  to 
their  highest  form  of  external  expression 
through  that  mode  of  motion  which  we  have 
characterized  "  Poise"  or  equilibrium  of 
forces. 

Let  the  student  ponder  deeply  these  proposi- 
tions. They  will  be  illustrated,  again  and 
again,  as  we  proceed. 

1.  The  motions  of  the  human  body  are  cor- 
resjiondences  of  the  great  law  of  modern  phys- 
ics, formulated  by  Herbert  Spencer,  as  "  The 
concentration  of  matter,  and  the  dispersion  of 
motion." 

2.  "  Poise  "  of  the  body  is  the  external  form 
of  the  conservation  of  Energy.     Eccentricity 
is  the  external  form  of  its  dissipation. 

3.  So  Poise  of  the   body  is    the   external 
symbol  of  the  highest  moods  of  the   human 
Soul :    the    highest    activity    without    disper- 
sion. 

If  it  shall  be  found  that  the  manifestations 
of  the  Soul  through  the  body  come  under  the 
rule  of  Law,  and  that  the  mode  of  operation  of 
the  law  can  be  ascertained  and  formulated,  it 
would  seem  that  the  statement  of  the  laws,  ar- 
rived at  through  modern  scientific  and  psycho- 
logic method,  would  form  a  sure  foundation  for 
a  Philosophy  of  Expression. 

(c.)  It  is  this  attempt  to  deduce  the  underlying  law  from 


THE  NINE  LAWS  OF  GESTURE.  49 

the  complex  phenomena  presented  of  a  given  psychic  state, 
by  hundreds  of  examples,  that  gives  value  to  the  observa- 
tions of  Delsarte.  He  seemed  to  realize  the  truth  that  any 
system  of  laws  governing  human  expression,  to  have  valid- 
ity, must  be  founded  upon  what  is  now  recognized  as  "  the 
scientific  method,"  whose  weapons  of  discovery  are  observa- 
tion, experiment,  and  test.  The  observation  must  be  exact, 
the  experiment  sufficient,  and  the  tests  satisfactory. 

Whether  Delsarte  did  more  than  to  sketch  the  outlines 
of  a  Philosophy  of  Expression,  we  have  no  evidence  from 
authoritative  sources.  The  material  presented  thus  far, 
since  his  death,  is  empirical  rather  than  philosophic  in 
form. 

Delsarte  is  reported  to  have  formulated  Nine 
Laws  of  Gesture.1 

These  Laws  are:  Motion;  Velocity ;  Di~ec- 
tion  and  Extension;  Reaction;  Form;  Per- 
sonality; Opposition  of  Agents;  Priority  or 
Sequence;  Rhythm. 

(d.)  The  statement  of  these  laws  as  nine  ;  their  limita- 
tion to  that  number ;  the  fact  that  Delaumosne  represents 
Delsarte  as  giving  but  six,  namely  :  Priority,  Retroaction, 
Opposition  of  Agents,  Unity,  Stability,  and  Rhythm  ;  and 
that  Arnaud  makes  no  mention  of  them  ;  the  differences  in 
the  statement  of  their  number  and  order,  both  in  Europe 
and  America ;  and,  more  than  all,  Darwin's  statement  of 
but  three  principles  2  "  to  cover  most  of  the  expressions  of 
man  and  animals,"  —  led  me  to  doubt  whether  these  laws 
were  authoritatively  stated,  and  whether  Delsarte  restricted 
tho  number  to  nine,  and  if  so  why  the  restriction  ?  And 

1  In  making-  this  statement  we  do  not  claim  to  represent  Delsarte. 
We  hope  not  to  misrepresent  his  teachings. 

2  These   three   principles   are   discussed   in  a  masterly  manner  in 
The  Expressions  of  Man  and  Animals.     They  are:    (1.)  Serviceable 
Associated  Habit.     (2.)  Antithesis.     (3.}  Direct  Action  of  the  Nerv- 
ous System. 

4 


50  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

lastly  the  author  was  led  into  grave  doubts  whether  Del- 
sarte  clearly  apprehended  the  principle  upon  which  all  such 
categories,  if  presented  as  laws  governing  Expression,  must 
rest. 

The  principle  by  which  Delsarte's  Nine  Laws, 
and  many  other  such  statements  of  categories  as 
laws,  can  alone  be  justified  is  none  other  than 
the  great  Law  of  Correspondence,  recognized  as 
the  basis  of  their  systems  by  Plato,  Lamarck, 
and  Oken  as  Philosophy,  Swedenborg  as  Keli- 
gion,  Emerson  as  Ethics,  and  Goethe  and  Words- 
worth as  Poetry. 

Oken  states  this  Law  so'  broadly  that  it  may 
apply  to  the  two  subsistences  that  make  the 
Universe.  We  give  the  formula  of  this  great 
philosophic  thinker. 

Law  :  All  the  phenomena  of  matter,  appar- 
ent, real,  material,  are  correspondences  of  the 
Non-apparent,  Ideal,  Spiritual. 

Swedenborg  gives  a  more  restricted  formula, 
that  applies  to  the  two  subsistences  that  by  their 
union  make  Man. 

Law :  The  human  body,  with  all  its  parts 
and  functions,  is  elaborated  from  the  Soul,  its 
faculties  and  powers;  and  therefore  corre- 
S2ionds  to  it  in  every  particular  of  structure, 
form,  and  use. 

We  present  a  third  formula,  which  lies  at  the 
centre  of  the  Synthetic  Philosophy  of  Expres- 
sion, and  which,  with  the  two  already  stated, 
we  urge  the  student  deeply  to  ponder.  It  is 


THE  NINE  LAWS  OF  GESTURE.  51 

the  formula  of  a  teacher  of  the  Art  of  Expres- 
sion. 

Law  :  Man  expresses  his  psychic  states  in 
terms  of  his  environment.  These  terms  are  re- 
lated to,  and  correspond  with,  Space,  Time, 
and  Motion. 

These  formulae  cut  the  Gordian  knot,  and 
solve  the  Sphinx-riddle  of  Delsarte. 

His  nine  laws  are  laws  of  Expression  only 
through  their  dependence  upon  the  great  cen- 
tral Law  of  Correspondence. 

They  are  corollaries  of  our  main  proposition. 
A  little  thought  will  make  this  plain.  Every 
psychic  mood  finds  its  correspondence  in  some 
appearance  of  Nature  and  is  interpreted  by  it. 
And  we  can  only  describe  our  psychic  mood  by 
that  natural  appearance  as  its  picture. 

What  profound  significance  in  the  saying  of 
Emerson :  "  The  use  of  Natural  History  is  to 
give  us  aid  in  Supernatural  History ! "  and  in 
Hugo's  :  "  Animals  are  but  our  vices !  "  Such 
analogies  are  constant  and  fixed  in  the  nature 
of  things. 

Eead  what  Science  has  to  say.  Said  John 
Fiske  —  our  American  Herbert  Spencer  : 

"  The  earth  is  suited  to  its  inhabitants  because 
it  produced  them,  and  only  such  as  suit  it  live. 

"  It  is  not  that  the  environment  is  suited  to  the 
organism,  but  that  the  organism  is  suited  to  the 
environment.  Throughout  all  time,  therefore, 
since  intelligence  appeared  upon  the  earth,  the 


52  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

world  of  conceptions  has  been  maintained  in 
more  or  less  complete  correspondence  with  the 
world  of  phenomena.  And  thus  the  contem- 
plating mind  and  the  world  contemplated  have 
become  tuned  in  mysterious  unison" 

(e.)  Do  we  need  illustrations  of  these  correspondences  of 
Outer  and  Inner  ?  Our  discussion  of  these  nine  laws  will 
be  crowded  with  them. 

Take  a  single  illustration,  of  gesture  in  correspondence 
with  Space  as  expressive  of  psychic  states. 

The  psychic  states  which  we  would  illustrate  are  Haugh- 
tiness, Conceit,  and  Command.  The  agent  is  the  whole 
body.  The  eye  leads  in  effecting  these  correspondences. 

All  three  of  these  passions  draw  the  body  upward  in 
space.  (They  seem  to  say :  "  See  how  high  I  am  above 
you !  ")  but  the  direction  of  the  eye  must  determine  further 
relations  with  space  ;  and  the  eye  will  make  different  cor- 
respondences for  each  of  the  three  passions.  Thus  Haugh- 
tiness draws  upward  the  body,  throws  backward  the  head, 
and  at  the  same  time  glances  downward  with  the  eyes  ("  The 
highest  is  '  self,'  the  object  below,  '  you  '"). 

In  Conceit,  the  eyes  stray  over  the  person  ("How  fine 
I  am ").  They  glance  about  ("  I  wonder  if  they  see 
me  ?  "). 

In  Command,  head  and  torso  are  drawn  upward,  and  the 
glance  is  open  and  direct  ("  I  ask  you  to  note  that  1 1 '  am 
higher  in  space  than  '  you  '  are  "). 

So  in  our  highest  psychic  moods  the  head  and  torso  are 
drawn  upwards ;  head  and  face  lifted  upwards  ;  glance  di- 
rected upwards  in  space. 

Thus  as  the  basis  of  Delsarte's  Nine  Laws  of 
Gesture  we  find  the  Law  of  Correspondence. 
We  will  now  consider  these  laws  more  in  detail 


THE  LAW  OF  MOTION.  53 


THE    LAW    OF   MOTION. 

Definition.  Motion  is  Force  expending  itself. 
Our  definition  is  also  a  definition  of  Gesture. 

Gesture  is  the  outer  (muscular)  movement  by 
which  the  inner  (psychic)  force  expends  itself.  ' 

(f.)  The  student  will  make  careful  note  that  our  defini- 
tion of  a  gesture  indicates  that  a  conscious  centre  moves  its 
mass  of  matter. 

This  is  the  distinguishing  characteristic  of  an  organism. 
Matter  is  inert.  It  is  capable  of  receiving  and  containing 
any  amount  of  mechanical  force  communicated  to  it  from 
the  outer,  but  it  cannot  originate  the  smallest  increment  of 
new  force. 

.    But  wherever  we  find  matter  as  mass,  moved  from  a 
centre,  we  find  the  phenomena  of  Life. 

As  a  problem  of  pure  physics,  gesture  is  an  escape  of 
Energy J  in  form  of  Motion. 

Let  us  attempt  to  justify  our  statement.  The  nerve 
centres  —  the  great  centre,  the  brain,  and  the  smaller  cen- 
tres, the  ganglia  —  are  the  reservoirs  of  Psychic  Energy. 
Now  let  us  suppose  a  given  quantity  of  this  energy  has  ac- 
cumulated at  these  centres. 

By  psychic  act  this  energy  is  transformed  into  Emotion. 
Some  part  of  this  energy  now  discharges  itself  upon  the 
muscles,  where  it  appears  as  Motion,  in  the  form  of  cries, 
gestures,  and  articulations. 

A  diagram  will  make  this  plain.  The  Emotion  that  is  to 
appear  in  form  of  Motion  is,  we  will  suppose,  Hate. 

1  Energy  is  the  term  used  in  modern  physics  for  all  the  efforts  of 
Nature,  —  Heat,  Light,  Electricity,  Magnetism,  Chemism,  —  forming, 
to  use  Tyndall's  apt  expression,  "  So  many  modes  of  motion." 

But  the  Psychic  Force  residing  at  the  centre  of  an  organism  is  none 
of  these  forms  of  energy.  Its  rule  over  its  mass  of  matter  is  abso- 
lute. It  is  a  unique  centre,  and  commands  its  periphery.  Through 
motion  of  its  mass  it  manifests. 


54  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

Let  c  represent  the  centre  of  psychic  force,  the  brain. 

Let  s  s  represent  sensations  of  sight  and  sound,  aroused  by 
the  presence  of  the  object  of  hate  O.  The  sensations  of 
sight  and  sound  are  received  at  the  centre,  c,  over  the  nerve 
line,  s  c. 

Arrived  at  the  brain  the  sensations  of  sight  and  sound 
are  transformed  into  Emotive  Energy.  Now  a  part  of  this 
energy  escapes  along  the  line  C  o,  toward  the  object  of  hate, 
and  a  part  goes  out  along  the  line  c  G,  where  it  appears  as 
gesture. 


O 

This  diagram  justifies  Mantegazza's  definition  of  gesture 
as  "  One  of  those  centrifugal  energies  that  surge  forth  from 
the  great  transformers  of  Force,  the  Nerve  Centres." 

According  to  Mantegazza,  gesture  is  useful 
both  in  the  economy  of  Life  and  in  the  economy 
of  Art.1 

Thus  in  the  economy  of  Life :  — 

I.  It  may  defend  the  nerve  centres  and  other 
parts  of  the  body  against  numberless  perils  and 
enemies. 

In  the  economy  of  Art:— 

II.  It  may  take  the  place  of  spoken  language, 
or  it  may  add  to  its  completeness. 

(g.)  The  student  will  readily  call  to  mind  the  great 
number  of  gestures  of  defence  made  by  animals. 

1  See  La  Physionomie  et  V  Expression  des  Sentiments.  Paris,  1885t 
Felix  Alcan,  publisher. 


THE  LAW  OF  MOTION.  55 

The  instinct  of  self-preservation,  we  may  be  allowed  to 
say,  has  taught  even  insects  to  throw  out  their  limbs  in 
threatening  attitudes.  Among  birds  gestures  of  attack  and 
of  threatening  are  frequently  made  by  enlarging  their  ap- 
pearance by  spreading  their  wings,  and  by  screams.  The 
defensive  gestures  of  the  carnivora  are  full  of  force  and 
terror. 

We  shall  find  abundant  reasons  to  agree  with  Mantegazza, 
that  "  Gesture  is  scarcely  inferior  to  Voice,  or  Speech,  in  the 
Arts  which  employ  these  three  agents  of  Expression." 

We  apply  to  gesture  the  three  forms  of  Mo- 
tion as  correspondences  of  tiie  three  states  of  the 
Being. 

We  present  the  formula  of  Motion  as  related 
to  centres : — 

I.  Motion  from  a  centre  outwards  is  eccentric 
(or  centrifugal)  Motion.     It  corresponds  with 
our  Vital  states. 

II.  Motion  towards  a  centre  inwards  is  con- 
centric (or  centripetal)  Motion.    It  corresponds 
with  our  Mental  states. 

III.  Motion   centred,   namely,  held  in   bal- 
ance, is  "  at  Poise."     It  corresponds  with  our 
highest  JSmotive  states. 

(h.)  We  believe  Delsarte  to  have  been  the  first  to  apply 
the  three  modes  of  Motion  to  the  three  states  of  the  Be- 
ing. This  is  his  great  discovery,  and  is  at  the  centre  of  the 
Delsarte  System. 

Yet  we  fancy  that  a  philosophic  mind  reading  Sir  Isaac 
Newton's  "  Three  Mechanical  Axioms  "  will  be  strongly  im- 
pressed with  the  idea  that  the  great  French  teacher  found 
the  data  for  his  laws  of  Motion,  as  applied  to  Expression,  in 
|he  masterly  formulae  of  the  great  English  thinker. 

We   present  the   three   familiar   axioms   laid   down   by 


56  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

Newton,  and  ask  the  student  to  note  how  often  they  appear 
—  and  that  of  necessity  —  as  bases  of  Delsarte's  laws  gov- 
erning Human  Expression,  as  related  to  the  restrictions  of 
Space  and  Time :  — 

(1.)  Every  body  continues  in  its  state  of  rest,  or  of  uni- 
form motion  in  a  straight  line,  except  in  so  far  as  it  may 
be  compelled  by  impressed  forces  to  change  that  state. 

(2.)  All  motion  or  change  of  motion  must  be  proportional 
to  the  force  impressed  in  quantity,  and  must  be  in  the  direc- 
tion of  that  straight  line  in  which  the  force  is  impressed. 

(3.)  To  every  action  there  is  always  an  equal  'and  con- 
trary reaction. 

We  may  formulate  our  conclusions  thus  far 
arrived  at  — 

I.  Man   is   one   in   consciousness,   three  in 
manifestation. 

II.  All  manifestation   is    through    Motion. 
Matter  in  Form  is  arrested  Motion. 

III.  The  three    states    of    the    Being,    the 
Vital,  Emotive,  and  Mental,   manifest   them- 
selves through  three  modes  of  Motion:  Eccen- 
tric, Concentric,  and  Poise. 

IL 
THE    LAW    OF   VELOCITY. 

Velocity  may  be  defined  as  the  relation  of 
Motion  to  Space  and  Time. 

The  units  of  measurement  of  velocity  adopted 
by  scientists  are  a  second  of  time  and  a  foot  of 
space. 

Delsarte's  Law  :  Velocity  is  in  proportion 
to  the  mass  moved  and  the  Force  moving. 


THE  LAW  OF  VELOCITY.  57 

(e.)  This  law  is  founded  upon  the  principle  of  the  pendu- 
lum. The  oscillation  or  swing  of  a  pendulum  is  the  result 
of  the  action  of  two  forces,  —  momentum  and  gravity. 

Hence  it  is  a  necessity  of  physical  conditions  that  a  pendu- 
lum with  a  long  radius  sweeps  through  more  space,  and 
hence  gives  slower  movement  than  a  pendulum  with  a  shorter 
radius. 

Now  the  human  body  is  moved  in  exact  ac- 
cordance with  the  law  of  the  pendulum. 

A  centrifugal  flow  of  Vital  force  is  the  mo- 
mentum or  energy  imparted.  Gravity  is  the 
second  force. 

So  we  have  the  body  moving  along  by  the 
pendulum  swing  of  the  legs,  and  maintaining  its 
equilibrium  by  the  added  and  opposite  swing  of 
the  arms. 

We  find  the  following  pendulums  as  acting 
agents  in  Expression :  The  Head,  the  Torso, 
the  Legs,  the  Arms,  the  Hands,  the  Fingers. 

(/.)  Let  the  student  note  three  things  which  he  will  ap- 
ply in  his  technical  training  of  the  agents  of  Expression. 

1.  The  point  of  suspension  or  centre  of  motion  of  the 
agent. 

2.  The  momentum  or  force  given  the  agent. 

3.  The  arc  described  by  the  agent  under  these  condi- 
tions. 

In  the  play  of  these  human  pendulums,  those 
with  short  radii  move  faster  and  describe  smaller 
arcs  than  those  with  longer  radii. 

Thus  the  movement  of  torso  and  head  as  mass, 
from  the  centre  of  motion  at  the  hips,  presents 
the  longest  radius  and  describes  the  largest  arc. 


58  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

Hence,  of  course,  it  presents  the  slowest  move- 
ment. The  head  is  an  agent  with  a  shorter  ra- 
dius, and  the  hand  shorter  than  either. 

Let  us  now  restate  the  Law  of  Velocity,  and 
see  if  we  can  find  its  reason  to  be  in  its  applica- 
tion to  gesture. 

The  Velocity  of  any  agent  is  in  proportion 
to  the  mass  moved  and  the  Force  moving. 

The  mass  to  be  moved  may  be  any  agent,  — 
torso,  hand,  eyelid,  voice. 

The  force  that  moves  the  mass  is  that  constant 
energy,  the  psychic  element. 

So  we  may  say  that  the  amount  of  Motion 
shown  by  an  agent  of  Expression,  in  Space  and 
Time,  will  be  the  measure  of  the  amount  of 
Emotion. 

The  following  propositions  will  show  the  rule 
of  the  law  of  correspondence  between  the  body 
and  the  Psychic. 

Prop.  I.  In  proportion  to  the  depth  and 
majesty  of  the  Emotion  will  be  the  deliberate- 
ness  and  slowness  of  the  motion. 

(g.)  By  a  law  of  our  Being,  —  a  law  from  which  there  is 
no  escape,  —  we  are  compelled  to  state  our  feelings  in  terms 
of  matter. 

This  is  so,  because  matter  and  its  forces  are  types  or 
correspondences  of  mind  and  its  forces. 

So  we  borrow  the  restrictions  of  space  and  time  to  say,  as 
our  best  way  of  saying  of  feelings  that  stir  the  soul  to  its 
depths,  that  they  are  grand,  lofty,  deep,  weighty,  grave, 
massive. 

And  we  borrow  from  that  immense  reservoir  of  corre- 
spondences, "  the  nature  of  things,"  the  fact  that  bodies  with 


THE  LAW  OF  VELOCITY.  59 

large  mass  move  slowly,  and  so  state  our  feelings  in  the  most 
exact  correspondences  of  matter  which  we  are  able  to  find. 

We  do  not  need  to  be  told  how  Webster,  in  this  pas- 
sage from  his  greatest  oration,  made  correspondences  of 
body  and  Soul.  Let  the  student  note  the  rhythmical  tread 
of  these  sentences  :  — 

"When  my  eyes  |  shall  be  turned  |  to  behold  |  for  the 
last  time  |  the  sun  in  heaven,  |  may  I  not  see  him  |  shin- 
ing |  on  the  broken  and  dishonored  fragments  |  of  a  once 
glorious  Union ;  |  on  States  dissevered,  |  discordant,  |  bellig- 
erent ;  |  on  a  land  |  rent  with  civil  feuds,  |  or  drenched,  |  it 
may  be,  |  with  fraternal  blood." 

It  is  as  though  the  Mount  Washington  that  Daniel  Web- 
ster as  a  farmer's  boy  looked  upon  had  moved  from  its  base, 
and  was  treading  across  the  continent. 

Our  next  proposition  will  carry  its  own  com- 
ment. 

Prop.  II.  In  proportion  to  the  superficiality 
and  explosweness  of  the  Emotion  will  be  the 
velocity  of  the  motion. 

Thus,  sharp,  superficial  emotions  translate 
themselves  by  quick,  sudden  motions. 

Our  vexations,  which  are  to  the  mind  what  pin- 
thrusts  are  to  the  flesh,  declare  themselves  by 
such  gestures  as  snapping  and  tapping  with  the 
fingers,  and  by  other  quick,  nervous,  and  incon- 
sequent motions. 

Prop.  III.  The  longer  an  agent  of  Expression 
is  held  at  rest,  the  greater  will  be  its  motion 
when  released. 

(h.)  It  is  well  known  that  the  suppression  of  external  signs 
of  feeling  makes  the  feeling  more  intense.  And  this  is  true 
of  nations  as  well  as  individuals.  The  longer  a  people  is 
held  in  chains  the  more  terrible  the  outburst. 


60  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

What  better  example  than  the  French  Revolution  ?  What 
warning  more  significant  than  the  present  attitude  of  Russia 
toward  Poland  and  her  own  middle  classes  ? 

What  more  ominous  than  the  deep  murmurs  of  discontent 
of  Ireland  ? 

A  single  illustration.  A  widowed  mother  has  lost  her 
only  son.  The  physician  is  told  that  she  has  shed  no  tears 
since  death  entered  the  door. 

She  sits  silent,  with  impassive  face  and  eyes  fixed,  in  mo- 
tionless despair. 

The  physician  shakes  his  head.  He  fears  insanity. 
Twenty-four  hours  have  elapsed.  He  calls  again.  He  is 
told  that  she  is  weeping.  A  smile  comes  into  his  face.  He 
turns  away,  saying,  "  I  am  not  needed  now." 

Prop.  IV.  When  the  Being  contemplates,  or 
is  filled  withy  the  majesty  and  power  of  a  great 
cause}  as  a  love  of  liberty,  or  of  loyalty  to 
conscience  and  duty,  or  of  obedience  to  God, 
all  the  agents  of  Expression  stand  in  Poise  or 
equilibrium. 

(i.)  Let  us  quote  a  single  short  line  from  history :  "  While 
their  flesh  crackled,  and  hissed,  and  shriveled  in  the  red 
flames,  their  faces  glowed  with  a  strange  calm,  as  if  their 
eyes  beheld  with  open  vision  the  Christ  I  " 

III. 
THE    LAW    OF   DIRECTION   AND    EXTENSION. 

These  words  present  to  the  mind  two  ideas  of 
Space.  Where  a  man  stands  is  to  him  the  cen- 
tre of  the  Universe: 

It  is  a  primary  idea,  that  Space  is  illimitable. 
We  think  limits  only  to  find  that  outside  our 
Jast  boundaries  there  is  more  Space. 


THE  LAW  OF  DIRECTION.  61 

A  line  projected  from  where  we  stand  would 
never  reach  the  periphery  of  the  infinite  circle 
of  Space. 

It  holds  all  things  so  far  as  we  know  or  can 
imagine,  with  room  for  more. 

Our  idea  of  Extension  doubtless  comes  from 
our  seeing  matter  filling  some  portion  of  Space. 
Were  there  no  masses  of  matter,  there  would  be, 
to  our  consciousness,  no  Space. 

Hence  matter  is  the  reality  of  Space.  And 
our  idea  of  Direction  is  the  place  of  an  object 
relative  to  ourself .  Thus  to  a  man  standing  on 
the  shore,  the  ocean  has  Extension,  and  a  ship 
in  view  has  Direction. 

We  formulate  two  laws  of  Gesture  founded 
upon  our  ideas  of  Direction  and  Extension. 

THE    LAW    OF    DIRECTION. 

The  lengths  are  Vital. 
The  depths  and  heights  are  Mental. 
The  breadths  are  Emotive. 

(/.)  Need  we  refer  here  to  our  formula  of  the  Law  of 
Correspondence  ?  We  restate  it :  Man  expresses  his  psy- 
chic states  in  terms  of  his  environment. 

All  our  lives,  from  childhood  till  now,  have  the  relations 
and  conditions  of  space  impressed  us. 

What  wonder  that  our  expressions  continually  reproduce 
our  impressions  ! 

So  our  Vital  nature  goes  out  in  lengths,  both  in  idea  and 
in  fact,  and  through  structure. 

We  strike  a  vital  blow  from  the  shoulder.  True  as  fact, 
true  as  metaphor,  picture  of  the  fact. 

We  push  through  obstacles  in  a  straight  line.     Some  men 


62  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

we  say  are  direct  and  straightforward.  "  He  never  swerved 
a  hair's  breadth  from  the  line  of  his  duty."  And  for  mani- 
festations of  our  Mental  states,  heights  and  depths  correspond 
equally  well.  We  fathom  the  depths  of  Philosophy.  We 
go  deep  into  Science.  We  climb  heights  of  Knowledge. 
The  earliest  picture  the  author  remembers  was  on  the  title- 
page  of  his  first  spelling-book.  It  was  of  a  youth  of  most 
determined  bearing  climbing  a  particularly  steep  hill,  and 
upon  the  summit  of  the  hill  stood  the  Temple  of  Knowl- 
edge, shaped  for  all  the  world  like  the  ornamental  pepper- 
box that  graced  his  good  mother's  table ! 

Politics  is  a  ladder  by  which  to  climb  into  power.  Men 
swim  with  the  current  of  affairs,  and  drift  along  in  the 
stream  of  events.  We 

—  "  dive  into  the  bottom  of  the  deep 

Where  fathom  line  could  never  touch  the  ground, 

And  pluck  up  drowned  Honor  by  the  locks." 

And  the  breadths  are  no  less  happy  in  expressions  of  our 
ethical  or  moral  states. 

We  spread  abroad  good  tidings.  We  are  wide  in  our 
benefactions.  The  death  of  a  great  and  good  man  spreads 
gloom  over  half  the  world. 

Law  of  Extension :  Delsarte  is  reported  to 
have  formulated  this  idea  thus  :  — 

Extension  in  Gesture  is  in  proportion  to  our 
self -surrender.  It  will  be  noted  that  this  for- 
mula corresponds  a  subjective  state — that  of  self- 
surrender —  with  the  objective  idea  of  Ihe  going 
out  of  the  body,  or  some  of  its  agents,  into 
Space. 

Note  the  strength  of  this  Scripture  through 
correspondence :  -r- 

"  But  when  he  was  yet  a  great  way  off,  his 
father  saw  him,  and  had  compassion,  and  ran, 
and  fell  on  his  neck,  and  kissed  him." 


THE  LAW  OF  REACTION.  63 

Thus  we  find  that  Extension,  or  going  out  of 
matter  into  Space,  is  the  physical  correspondence 
of  the  going  out  of  ourselves,  in  surrender  to 
our  highest  concepts,  to  friends,  to  country,  to 
the  right,  to  God. 

The  student  will  take  note  that  these  are  ex- 
pressions from  the  higher  Emotive  nature,  and 
become  true  through  correspondence  with  Space. 

And  we  may  say,  broadly,  that  the  phenom- 
ena of  the  dispersion  of  'matter  correspond 
with  our  altruistic  states  ;  and  the  phenomena 
of  the  concentration  of  matter  correspond  with 
our  selfish  and  egotistic  states.  . 

IV. 

THE    LAW    OF    REACTION. 

We  define  Reaction  as  the  return  of  Force. 
"Action  and  reaction  are  equal,"  is  Newton's 
third  law  of  Motion. 

In  organisms  this  law  might  be  called  the 
law  of  Life.  Where  there  is  no  return  of  mo- 
tion there  is  no  life.  Sentient  organisms  from 
highest  to  simplest  die  when  they  cannot  an- 
swer solicitations  from  without. 

The  Law  of  Reaction,  as  applied  to  our  psy- 
chic states,  has  been  formulated  thus,  by  Her- 
bert Spencer: 

"Emotion  always  tends  to  produce  motion, 
and  when  it  becomes  extreme  ahoays  does  pro- 
duce it."  We  may  add  as  corollaries  :  — 

1.  Every  extreme  of  Emotion  tends  to  react 


64  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

to  its  opposite.     Concentric  states  tend  to  ex* 
plosion,  and  explosion  tends  to  prostration. 

2.  The  only  2^ssion  that  does  not  tend  to 
its  own  destruction  is  that  which  is  poised,  or 
is  in  equilibrium. 

3.  The  Soul  in  its  highest  moods  translates 
itself  by  poising  its  agents. 

Poise  the  Soul  and  the  whole  muscular  sys- 
tem is  in  action  to  poise  the  body. 
Here  we  state  the  Law  of  Climax :  — 
Law  :  There  should  be  but  one  strong  climax 
in  a  perfect  work  of  Art.     The  artist  should 
work  steadily  toward  that  climax. 

(k.)  This  is  a  most  important  law  for  the  reader,  actor, 
musician,  or  orator.  Anti-climax  is  fatal  in  Art. 

All  should  be  arranged  in  reference  to  the  point  of  high- 
est interest,  as  in  painting  all  is  arranged  in  reference  to 
the  point  of  highest  light.  Dramatic  Art,  in  America, 
shows  an  utter  defiance  of  this  principle.  Our  audiences 
are  so  used  to  the  crude  exhibitions  of  the  theatre,  and 
the  actors  at  the  theatre  so  used  to  their  immature  au- 
diences, that  all  is  overdone,  loud,  pronounced,  startling, 
objective,  —  all  is  climax. 

^Emotion  always  tends  to  move  towards  a 
climax,  which  it  holds  for  a  brief  time,  and 
then  subsides. 

(I.)  This  correspondence  of  our  psychic  states  with  the 
wave  motion  of  fluids,  as  made  visible  in  the  waves  of  the 
ocean,  is  a  profound  one.  All  the  great  movements  of 
Nature  illustrate  it :  the  tides  with  their  ebb  and  flow, 
storms  rushing  on  to  their  highest  point  of  violence  and 
calm  succeeding,  fierce  heats  and  cold. 

Mountains  —  valleys.     The  day  —  night.    War,  with  its 


THE  LAW  OF  REACTION.  65 

terrible  climax  of  passion  —  peace.  Life  —  death.  And 
finally,  the  latest  deductions  of  modern  science  lead  to  the 
conclusion  that  all  the  great  forces  of  Nature,  heat,  elec- 
tricity, light,  magnetism,  are  but  series  of  climaxes,  or  wave 
motions. 

Delsarte  is  credited  by  Mr.  Mackaye  1  with  a  character- 
istic illustration  of  the  Law  of  Climax.  It  is  called 

The  Battle  of  Reason  and  Passion. 

The  thermometers  of  passion  in  the  face, —  the  corrugators 
(muscles  of  the  Will),  the  nostrils,  and  the  close-shut  canine 
teeth  (on  the  left  side  of  the  mouth),  —  indicate  passion. 
The  hand  contracts,  as  in  less  degree  does  the  whole  body. 

These  manifestations,  showing  the  inner  struggle,  go  on 
with  increasing  intensity  until  the  force  of  Passion  exceeds 
the  force  of  Reason. 

Then  comes  the  explosion  of  Passion  in  the  sudden 
vehement  expansion  of  gesture. 

1  A  student  of  Delsarte,  who  first  introduced  the  ideas  of  his  dis- 
tinguished teacher  into  America. 

5 


CHAPTEE  IV. 

THE  NINE  LAWS  OF  GESTURE  (CONCLUDED). 

V. 
THE  LAW  OF  FORM. 

OUR  ideas  of  Form  come  primarily  from  mat- 
ter. And  we  may  define  Form  as  the  figure  or 
shape  of  extended  Matter. 

At  first  the  child  separates  actual  objects  by 
touch,  and  later  on  notes  the  fact  that  such  and 
such  objects  fill  such  and  such  spaces. 

After  light,  form  is  Nature's  first  stimulus  of 
sight.  So  Astronomy  and  Geometry  are  the  old- 
est of  our  sciences. 

The  motion  of  a  point  in  Space  generates  a 
line.  The  motion  of  a  line,  a  surface.  Of  a 
surface,  a  solid.  So  a  solid  is  the  absolutely 
extensive. 

Again :  take  a  point  of  matter,  let  it  expand  in 
Space  on  equal  radial  lines,  in  all  directions,  and 
we  have  the  globe. 

Do  you  remember,  kind  reader,  the  story  of 
the  fisherman,  in  the  world's  wonderbook  for 
children,  the  Arabian  Nights'  Entertainments? 
How,  hauling  his  nets,  he  drew  from  the  sea 
a  casket,  rusty,  and  covered  with  weeds  ? 


THE  LAW  OF  FORM.  67 

Led  by  curiosity,  he  pries  it  open.  A  light 
vaporous  cloud  issues.  It  expands,  takes  on  first 
irregular  shape,  and  as  he  looks  changes  into  a 
terrible  genius  with  uplifted  scimitar  ! 

The  Spirit  of  Form  with  the  Greek  was  Pro- 
teus. Now  this,  now  that,  before  your  eyes ! 

Delsarte  is  credited  with  these  statements  of 
the  Laws  of  Form  :  — 

I.  Forms  bounded  Ity  straight  lines  are  Vital, 
embryonic,  plebeian  in  expression. 

II.  Forms  bounded  by  curved  lines  are  Men- 
tal and  Reflective  in  expression. 

III.  Spiral   forms    are    Moral,    Spiritual, 
Mystic,  in  expression. 

A  flame  is  spiral.  It  is  the  symbol  and  corre- 
spondence of  the  mystic  in  nearly  all  the  ancient 
religions  of  the  world. 

(a.)  Let  us  examine  these  three  statements  of  Delsarte. 
We  think  the  first  can  be  justified,  that  "  Forms  bounded 
by  straight  lines  are  Vital,  embryonic, plebeian" 

In  the  inorganic  world  Nature  everywhere  constructs 
with  straight  lines.  She  builds  her  inorganic  masses  out 
of  crystals,  in  straight  lines  and  at  fixed  angles. 

So  in  the  primitive  age  of  the  world  all  was  crystallization. 

And  a  mass  of  crystals  bounded  by  straight  lines  gives 
little  suggestion  of  advance  into  the  realm  of  organic  life, 
but  suggests  through  correspondence  ideas  of  inflexibility, 
strength,  and  insensibility,  and  may  be  said  to  be  void  of 
higher  mental  or  emotive  expression. 

Let  us  examine  the  second  statement :  "  Forms  bounded 
by  curved  lines  are  Mental  in  expression"  We  think  Del- 
sarte could  not  have  made  this  assertion.  The  Law  of 
Correspondence  would  certainly  deny  it.  And  besides,  he 
everywhere  allies  grace  and  harmony  of  gesture  with  curves. 


68  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

We  think  we  may  say  that  forms  composed  of  arranged 
lines  are  Mental.  That  is,  they  show  that  man's,  not  Na- 
ture's, mind  arranged  them.  Arranged  lines  are  unknown 
in  Nature's  disposition  of  scenic  effects. 

So,  if  we  were  in  what  we  supposed  to  be  an  uninhab- 
ited country,  and  should  suddenly  come  to  a  straight  row  of 
trees,  or  of  plants  growing  in  straight  lines,  we  would  know 
that  the  mind  of  man  had  ordered  the  arrangement. 

Nature  never  sent  a  straight  stream  of  water  babbling 
down  the  hillside  and  through  the  meadow,  with  no  eddies 
or  covers  for  trout. 

There  is  always  an  intellectual  value  in  the  straight  line, 
and  an  emotive  value  in  the  curved  line.  Forms  bounded 
by  straight  lines  tire  the  eyes.  It  is  well  known  that  curves 
rest  them. 

Thus  it  happens  that  the  forms  of  masses  of 
matter,  and  the  lines  which  bound  them,  con- 
tinually received  by  us  as  sight  sensations,  and 
these  sensations  heightened  by  color,  are  repro- 
duced as  expressions  of  our  psychic  states. 

And  so  our  gestures  outline  forms,  describe 
lines,  trace  segments  of  circles,  and  apply  all  the 
elements  of  geometry  to  the  spaces  about  us. 

Indeed,  as  will  be  illustrated  in  our  talk  upon 
the  hand  and  arm,  so  bound  are  we  to  Form 
that  all  our  gestures  bear  relation  to  the  lines, 
spaces,  and  forms  of  a  projected  globe. 

(b.)  Thus  it  is  seen  that  we  seek,  in  the  outer,  correspond- 
ences for  our  inner  psychic  states. 

We  find  it  a  continual  experience  that  objects  bounded 
by  straight  lines  are  solid,  firm,  strong. 

So  primitive  man,  in  strict  correspondence  with  the  Vital 
age  of  the  world,  built  the  Pyramids,  or  threw  up  huge 
cubes  of  stones. 


THE  LAW  OF  FORM.  69 

And  so,  too,  we  find  it  a  continual  experience  that  ob- 
jects bounded  by  curved  lines  give  us  a  sense  of  lightness, 
beauty,  and  gracefulness. 

But  what  terrible  vitality  the  zigzag  of  the  lightning  dis- 
closes, "  when  in  blind  rage  the  crooked  red  blade  springs 
from  the  black  sheath  and  stabs  the  earth  right  and  left "  ! 

So  the  arch  types  both  strength  and  lightness.  The  strug- 
gle in  architecture  is  always  between  the  strong,  the  solid, 
the  firm,  of  straight  lines,  appealing  to  our  Vital  nature, 
and  the  light,  the  graceful,  the  tasteful,  of  curves,  appealing 
to  the  aesthetic  sense,  rooted  in  the  Emotive  and  Mental. 

Note  the  straight  Vital  lines  of  the  great  Assyrian  and 
Egyptian  temples,  in  many  instances  hewn  of  solid  rock. 
What  a  calm  solidity  and  almost  conscious  strength  they 
exhibit ! 

And,  in  contrast,  note  the  pagodas  of  the  Chinese  and 
the  tea-houses  of  the  Japanese,  with  their  outlines  of  fan- 
ciful curves  and  grotesque  figures.  What  lightness,  gayety, 
and  insecurity  they  present ! 

But  the  sloping  roofs  of  the  huts  of  the  Esquimaux  are 
symbols  of  a  continuous  vital  struggle  with  a  terrible  en- 
vironment of  ice,  cold,  and  hunger. 

And  now,  for  a  closing  lesson  in  the  significance  of  Form, 
turn  to  that  marvel  of  beauty  of  outline  and  harmony  of 
proportion,  that  even  in  its  ruins  charms  the  world  —  the 
Parthenon. 

It  is  a  modern  discovery  that  all  the  lines  of  this  won- 
derful structure  are  sections  of  the  circle,  but  the  curves 
are  so  delicate  as  to  have  escaped  notice  for  centuries. 

Conscious  of  the  beautiful,  without  knowing  why  or  how 
beautiful,  what  a  tribute  to  the  perfection  of  Greek  archi- 
tecture ! 

Thus  form,  color,  and  motion  of  objects  in 
Space,  received  thousands  and  thousands  of  times 
as  sight  sensations,  have  wrought  into  the  very 
fibre  of  our  Being  their  numberless  correspond- 
ences. 


70  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

So,  form  of  substance  corresponds  with  form 
of  essence,  and  the  exterior  is  the  visible  corre- 
spondence of  the  interior. 

There  is  a  wonderful  verity  in  the  song  of  our 
poet  Lowell,  that  even  the  gross  earth  crystals 
climb  to  a  soul,  in  the  form  and  perfume  of  the 
flower.  And,  in  the  last  analysis,  outer  and  in- 
ner proclaim  their  unity.  The  whole  and  the 
part  are  one. 

The  mysticism  of  Goethe  becomes  the  plain- 
est of  plain  truths,  and  his  poetry  prosaic,  read 
in  the  light  of  the  new  science  of  Darwin  and 
Haeckel,  Spencer  and  Fiske. 

"  We  must,  in  contemplating-  Nature, 
Part  as  whole  give  equal  heed  to ; 
Naught  is  inward,  naught  is  outward, 
For  the  Inner  is  the  Outer." 

VI. 
THE   LAW   OF   THE   PERSONALITY. 

The  Personality  is  man  in  his  completeness  or 
wholeness.  In  other  words,  it  is  the  Ego,  or  in- 
dividual Soul  and  its  body,  with  tendencies,  char- 
acteristics, and  energies  peculiar  to  the  indi- 
vidual. 

So  the  Personality  is  the  element  of  differ- 
ence in  a  nature  common  to  all  men.  It  is  that 
which  distinguishes  the  man  from  men. 

Delsarte  makes  the  Will  the  agent  of  the  Per- 
sonality. He  says :  "  Whichever  of  the  three 
states  of  the  Being  is  in  action,  the  Will  is  its 
agent." 


THE  LAW  OF  THE  PERSONALITY.  71 

Rosmini,  the  great  Italian  metaphysician,  says, 
"  The  essence  of  the  personality  is  the  Will." 

And  this  agrees  with  modern  definition :  "  Our 
faculty  to  make  effort."  "The  Will  is  that  by 
which  the  Mind  does  everything  that  it  does." 

Law  of  the  Personality  :  The  conscious  ac- 
tivities of  the  Soul  express  themselves  through 
motion.  These  gestures  are  Attitudes  and  In* 
flections. 

The  unconscious,  constitutional,  and  heredi- 
tary tendencies  and  activities  express  themselves 
through  fixed  and  permanent  form  and  motion. 

These  forms  and  gestures  are  Bearings. 

All  gestures  belong  to  one  of  three  classes,  — 
Bearings,  Attitudes,  or  Inflections. 

These  terms  refer  to  fixed,  permanent,  and 
habitual;  or  present,  instant,  and  fleeting,  forms 
of  gesture. 

Let  us  consider  each  class  more  in  detail. 

1.  "  Bearings,"  from  the  Anglo-Saxon  word 
"her  an"  I  carry,  refers  to  the  habitual  carriage 
of  the  body. 

Bearings  are  characteristic  of  the  whole  man. 
They  often  sum  up  the  activities  of  a  lifetime  in 
a  single  gesture. 

Thus  Lavater  referred  to  Bearings  when  he 
said  :  "  Every  man  has  his  favorite  gesture ;  and 
were  it  possible  to  surprise  him,  and  to  delineate 
him  while  using  this  gesture,  it  would  furnish  the 
key  to  his  whole  character." 

Bearings  are  ingrained,  constitutional,  hered- 


72  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

itary,  repetitious.  They  come  down  the  long  line 
of  our  ancestry. 

They  are  the  marks  of  heredity,  —  evidences 
that  the  dead  still  keep  their  hold  upon  the  liv- 
ing, transmitting  from  generation  to  generation 
some  trick  of  manner,  or  peculiarity  of  gesture; 
some  open  mark  upon  the  face;  some  hidden 
fold  upon  the  brain,  —  a  smile,  a  lifting  of 
the  eyebrow,  a  curl  of  the  lip,  a  wrinkle  upon 
the  forehead. 

Attentively  study  the  past  of  your  ancestors  if 
you  would  forecast  your  own  future. 

(a.)  These  transmitted  inheritances  make  or  mar  us.  It 
is  as  though  all  our  ancestors  were  represented  in  a  huge 
kaleidoscope ;  each  ancestor  by  a  bit  of  colored  glass.  One 
turn  of  the  instrument,  —  the  bits  of  glass  rearrange  them- 
selves, and  there  is  a  birth ! 

And  the  new-born  babe  is  a  blend,  mosaic,  or,  to  use  a 
happy  phrase  of  Francis  Galton,  "  a  composite  portraiture  " 
of  his  ancestors. 

So  a  man's  Bearings  disclose  his  past.  They 
show  what  manner  of  race  he  sprang  from  ;  what 
he  has  taken  from  the  old  stock;  what  he  has 
added  to  his  inheritance  by  culture  and  experi 
ence ;  how  habit,  good  or  bad,  has  made  or 
marred  him. 

(b.)  The  student  of  Expression  must  keep  in  mind  the 
fact  that  the  central  expressions  are  Bearings,  and  should  be 
made  the  starting-point  for  critical  study. 

"  Ah !  the  face  is  that  of  your  mother,  but  when  you  speak 
your  voice  is  your  father's. 

"  Just  the  way  he  knit  his  brow,  too ;  and  you  use  the 


THE  LAW  OF  THE  PERSONALITY.  73 

same  by-word,  with  just  the  suspicion  of  a  stammer !   A  chip 
of  the  old  block !  " 

It  was  the  Bearing  from  the  Vital  root  that  struck  Ben- 
jamin West,  our  great  American  painter,  when  he  exclaimed 
at  first  sight  of  the  Greek  Apollo,  "  By  Hercules !  A  young 
Mohawk !  "  And  it  was  the  Bearing,  the  inherited  instinct 
of  rulership,  traces  of  the  old  habit  of  commanding,  that  in 
King  Lear  survived  the  terrible  seizures  of  insanity,  and  at 
intervals  proclaimed  him  "  every  inch  —  a  king." 

2.  Attitudes  are  arrests  of  motion. 

A  gesture  held  in  place  is  an  attitude. 

Attitudes  are  comparatively  passive,  and  show 
that  some  particular  mood  is  dominating  con- 
sciousness for  the  time  being.  An  attitude  should 
not  be  held  too  long ;  only  while  the  mood  dom- 
inates. And  by  the  law  of  climax  it  should 
mark  the  highest  point  of  the  domination  of  the 
passion. 

(c.)  There  is  a  wonderful  power  in  Attitude.  It  presents 
and  holds  before  the  eye  for  the  instant  a  synthesis  of  the 
mood  or  passion,  as  a  projected  picture.  It  is  painting  and 
living  sculpture  as  one !  This  unity  makes  it  superior  to 
speech,  which  only  tells  what  you  see  —  only  names  the  pic- 
ture. So  Mental  men  never  reach  the  climax  of  attitude. 
They  rarely  project  a  gesture  with  the  long  arc  of  the  free 
arm. 

Their  gestures  mark  relations  between  ideas  ;  they  num- 
ber, and  tell  how  high,  how  deep,  how  often,  how  many,  and 
how  much. 

They  free  the  Mental  agent,  the  forefinger,  and,  closing 
their  eyes,  shut  out  the  external  world  and  commune  with 
themselves. 

3.  Inflections  are  fugitive,  instant,  and  pres- 
ent forms  of  gesture. 


74  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

They  translate  the  immediate  and  transient 
moods  of  consciousness. 

They  are  instant,  and  disappear. 

The  face  is  the  special  ground  of  their  dis- 
play, and  next,  as  an  expressive  agent,  comes  the 
hand,  which  is  a  second  face. 

So  an  arrested  inflection  becomes  an  attitude. 
A  fixed  attitude  (when  held  too  long),  a  pos- 
ture. An  attitude  made  permanent,  a  bearing. 
An  inflection  put  on  is  a  grimace,  and  has  no 
art  significance. 

(d.)  An  illustration  of  the  grimace  is  the  familiar  one 
where  one  person  declaims  and  a  second  stands  concealed 
by  a  cloak  behind  him  and  makes  the  gestures.  It  is  the  ut- 
ter incongruity  between  the  words  of  the  one  and  the  ges- 
tures of  the  other  that  makes  the  situation  so  ludicrous. 

Note,  too,  the  smirk  of  the  danseuse,  and  the  play  of 
head  and  arms  when  she  retires  "amid  great  applause." 
Her  illustration  of  the  Vito- Vital  in  Art  won  the  noisy  plau- 
dits. Her  grimace  was  an  entirely  fit  acknowledgment. 

VII. 
THE   LAW    OF   OPPOSITION. 

Opposition  is  the  placing  over  against  one 
another  of  objects  or  forces. 

This  law  in  its  broadest  application  is  a  state- 
ment of  the  Law  of  Life.  Opposition  of  forces 
distinguishes  the  living  body  from  the  dead. 
When  the  Soul  can  no  longer  maintain  the  bal- 
ance and  play  of  forces,  its  body  dies,  falls  in 


THE  LAW  OF  OPPOSITION.  75 

pieces,  disintegrates,  ceases  to  be  organic,  be- 
comes dust.  Its  fluids  dissipate,  its  solids  crys- 
tallize. 

Herbert  Spencer  defines  the  process  of  Life  as 
"  the  continuous  adjustment  of  internal  relations 
to  external  relations,"  and  Delsarte  declares  "  the 
opposition  of  forces  to  be  an  instinct  of  the 
Soul."  As  though  the  Soul  instinctively  feels 
that  it  can  maintain  its  hold  upon  its  body  only 
by  strenuously  opposing  its  forces  to  the  forces 
of  Nature,  always  in  arms  against  organized  mat- 
ter, and  perpetually  threatening  its  destruction. 
Hence,  Nature's  almost  brutal  unconcern  for  the 
life  of  the  individual. 

"Let  the  race  survive,"  she  says;  "I  have 
little  heed  for  the  individual." 

So  with  an  impartial  hand  she  throws  a  whole 
brood  of  callow  robins  out  of  their  nest  to  per- 
ish in  the  rain,  and  in  the  plenitude  of  gen- 
erosity sows  the  rocky  bed  of  the  ocean  with 
myriad  eggs  —  the  living  spawn  of  a  single  cod- 
fish! 

Law  of  Opposition:  In  the  opposition  of 
the  agents  of  Expression  rests  the  harmony 
of  Gesture.  Therefore  oppose  the  agents  in 
action,  that  equilibrium  may  result. 

(a.)  The  student  will  note  that  this  law  finds  its  objec- 
tive correspondence  in  the  action  of  the  force  of  gravity 
upon  bodies.  It  is  Nature's  assertion  that  all  the  parts  of 
a  mass  of  matter  shall  relate  themselves  to  the  centre  of 
that  mass. 


76  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

When  this  relation  exists  —  when  the  parts  thus  balance 
—  we  feel  a  sense  of  security.  Objects  out  of  balance  at 
once  proclaim  insecurity. 

Thus,  though  you  know  the  Leaning  Tower  of  Pisa  has 
kept  its  balance  for  some  centuries,  if  you  stand  at  its  base 
and  look  up  along  its  inclined  shaft,  no  amount  of  reason- 
ing can  remove  the  sense  of  danger  that  comes  over  you. 

This  statement  of  law,  credited  to  Delsarte, 
is  but  an  application  to  the  human  body  of  the 
universal  Law  of  Statics,  governing  mass. 

The  body  must  obey  this  law  —  must  hold  it- 
self in  equilibrium  —  or  nature  will  perform  the 
office,  and  proceed  to  relate  the  separated  mass 
to  the  greater  mass  of  the  earth. 

But  Expression  rests  in  motion.  And  nature 
is  not  quite  satisfied  when  she  has,  through  her 
static  law,  balanced  the  human  body.  Her 
query  is,  evidently :  "  How  shall  I  make  this 
mass,  now  in  equilibrium,  move?"  Her  answer 
to  her  own  questioning  was  an  organism  (i.  e., 
a  psychic  centre  controlling  its  own  mass). 

So,  we  have  the  human  organism,  presented 
as  both  static  and  dynamic. 

That  is,  it  has  its  standing  side  and  its  mov- 
ing side.  It  thus  makes  two  presentations. 

Its  standing  presentation  is  comparatively  in- 
expressive. 

Its  dynamic  presentation  is  its  expressive  side. 
Dividing  it  into  back  and  front,  the  back  is  as 
a  dead  wall,  against  which  stands  and  acts  the 
expressive  front. 

We  may  call  the  static  side  passive,  and  the 
dynamic  side  active. 


THE  LAW  OF  OPPOSITION.  11 

Or  we  may  say  that  the  static  presentation  is 
negative,  and  the  dynamic  presentation  positive. 
Again :  we  may  say  the  static  presentation  gives 
Form,  the  dynamic  Motion. 

And  in  Form  and  Motion  rests  the  whole'! 
of  Human  Expression. 

So  we  may  add  a  proposition  to  Delsarte's 
Law,  deduced  from  our  considerations. 

Prop.:   The  greater  the  number  of  agents] 
that  unite  in  balanced  and  harmonious  oppo-  I  / 
sition,  the  higher  the  form  of  Expression. 

(b.)  Let  the  student  contrast  the  few,  simple,  and  inex- 
pressive gestures  of  children,  when  "  speaking  a  piece,"  with 
the  wealth  of  expressive  play  of  the  trained  actor.  The  Law 
of  Evolution  is  as  constant  in  art  as  it  is  in  nature.  The  pro- 
cedure is  from  the  homogeneous  to  the  heterogeneous.  The 
whole  play  of  the  agents  with  the  child  is  simple  ;  with  the 
actor,  complex.  Our  delight  is  in  the  surprises  which  the 
actor  constantly  occasions  through  complexity.  As  Emer- 
son has  somewhere  stated  it :  — 

Through  the  stairway  of  surprise 
Mount  we  into  Paradise. 

The  works  of  all  great  artists  confirm  the  Law  of  Opposi- 
tion of  Agents,  by  whose  aid  gestures  attain  to  complexity, 
and  so  delight  us  by  presenting  variety  in  place  of  uni- 
formity. 

Take  an  example.  One  day,  looking  through  Gustave 
Dore's  wonderful  art  conceptions  in  Milton's  "  Paradise 
Lost,"  these  lines  and  their  illustration  caught  my  attention: 

So  parted  they  :  the  angel  up  to  heaven 
From  the  thick  shade,  and  Adam  to  his  bower. 

Adam  is  the  principal  figure.  The  angel  is  represented  in 
the  distance  as  nearing  the  zenith.  I  noted  the  following 
oppositions :  (1.)  The  right  side  of  the  body  is  static,  the 


78  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

left  dynamic.  (2.)  The  static  side  presents  the  right  leg 
firm  but  not  stiff ;  the  dynamic  side  presents  the  left 
leg  as  free  and  bent  at  the  knee.  (3.)  The  right  arm  is 
thrown  upwards,  with  the  forearm  thrown  over  the  head,  so 
that  the  hand  grasps  the  left  side  ;  the  left  arm  is  thrown 
outwards  from  the  body,  with  the  palm  of  the  hand  turned 
towards  the  ascending  form  of  the  angel.  (4.)  The  head 
is  raised  and  turned  toward  the  right.  Broadly  speaking, 
Delsarte's  statement  is  justified  that  in  presentations  of  the 
agents  of  Expression  :  — 

1.  In  parallelisms  of  the  agents  there  is  a  want  of  grace- 
fulness and  harmony. 

2.  In  oppositions  of  the  agents  there  is  grace,  the  highest 
form  and  evidence  of  harmony. 

Delsarte  is  reported  to  have  thus  formulated 
the  Laws  of  Opposition  in  dramatic  action :  — 

I.  Oppositions  should  be  simultaneous  in 
Tragedy  and  Comedy ;  they  should  be  succes- 
sive in  Farce. 

(c.)  Take  a  single  illustration  of  this  law,  in  two  scenes. 

Scene  first.  Banishing,  from  a  sense  of  justice,  one  whom 
we  have  trusted. 

Here  the  agents  in  opposition  we  will  suppose  to  be  the 
head  and  right  hand.  These  agents  move  by  the  same  im- 
pulse and  together.  The  decision  is  determined  upon ;  the 
psychic  mood  is  single. 

The  gesture  precedes  the  spoken  words.  The  hand 
moves  toward  the  object,  with  palm  open  and  facing  object. 
The  head  moves  away  from  object.  "  Go,  and  never  more 
be  officer  of  mine." 

Scene  second.  Same  words  addressed  to  same  person. 
The  mood  is  now  complex.  Justice  is  opposed  by  mercy. 
So,  two  sets  of  agents  are  called  into  action.  (1.)  Head 
and  right  hand.  (2.)  Head,  torso,  and  left  hand.  These 
agents  move  simultaneously.  The  action  is :  first,  eccentric, 
head  and  right  hand,  and  toward  the  object ;  second,  con- 


THE  LAW  OF  OPPOSITION.  79 

centric,  head  and  left  hand,  away  from  the  object.  At  the 
same  time  the  words  are  spoken  the  left  hand  seeks  the 
torso. 

II.  Parallel  movements  should  be  successive 
in  Tragedy  and  Comedy ;  they  should  be  si- 
multaneous in  Farce. 

(d.)  Let  us  illustrate.  Suppose  the  approach  and  greet- 
ing of  an  esteemed  friend.  Note  that  the  parallel  move- 
ments of  the  agents  are  successive.  This  may  be  the  order 
of  the  gesture  :  (1.)  The  eye  notes  the  approach.  (2.)  The 
head  is  raised.  (3.)  The  torso  is  eccentric.  (4.)  The  fea- 
tures of  the  face  expand.  (5.)  Now,  if  surprise  enters  the 
mind  the  brows  are  raised.  (6.)  Now  the  hand  is  extended. 
And  (7.)  articulate  speech  follows. 

It  will  be  seen  that  if  these  gestures  should  be  precipi- 
tate and  simultaneous,  rather  than  parallel,  we  should  have 
the  essence  of  Farce,  or  Burlesque. 

III.  It  is  through  the  Law  of  Opposition 
that  the  expression  of  a  passion  gains  force  by 
using  its  contrary  sign. 

(e.)  The  smile  overspreads  the  face  in  moral  sadness.  We 
shed  tears  of  joy.  There  is  a  terrible  laugh  in  moments  of 
helplessness.  The  mother  shakes  her  head,  but  at  the  same 
time  smiles,  when,  in  words,  she  denies  the  request  of  her 
child.  The  child  translates,  and,  finding  that  two  lan- 
guages say  "  Yes,"  ravages  the  sugar-bowl. 

Said  a  friend  to  me  :  "I  never  felt  that  laughter  could  be 
more  pathetic  than  tears,  until  I  saw  Edwin  Booth's  as- 
sumption of  Brutus,  where  the  actor  plays  the  idiot,  and 
covers  his  terrible  passion  of  grief  with  the  mask  of 
laughter." 

In  spoken  and  written  language,  antithesis, 
the  placing  over  or  against  one  another  of  ideas, 
by  opposing  the  words  of  sentences,  has  from 


80  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

the  earliest  times  given  life  to  expression  through 
its  sharp  contrasts. 

vm. 

THE   LAW   OF   SEQUENCE,    OR   PRIORITY. 

The  word  sequence  indicates  an  order  of  suc- 
cession. This  thing,  event,  or  action,  first ;  that, 
second ;  and  so  on  to  the  end. 

(a.)  It  was  a  delightful  sequence  that  filled  eye  and  ear 
when,  as  youths,  we  set  on  end  a  number  of  bricks,  and  rev- 
elled in  the  regular  click  of  their  impact  and  fall. 

And  who  can  forget  the  solid  satisfaction  he  found  in  the 
sequence  of  sound  that  followed  him  as  he  ran  along,  strik- 
ing with  a  lath  the  spaced  boards  of  the  picket-fence  ? 

This  law  is  of  vital  importance  to  the  orator. 
He  is  a  poor  speaker  who  cannot  suggest  what  he 
is  about  to  say  before  he  says  it. 

Great  orators  know  that  they  must  project  the 
ruling  mood  before  they  speak  a  word.  Not  un- 
til the  picture  is  seen  does  the  orator  name  what 
it  is  that  is  seen. 

(5.)  It  will  be  noted  that  the  Law  of  Sequence  is  founded 
in  the  relation  of  the  nervous  system  to  its  environment. 
Nothing  external  is  perceived  until  it  first  makes  an  impres- 
sion upon  an  organ  of  sense. 

Law :  Impression  always  precedes  Expres- 
sion. We  must  have  before  we  can  give,  and 
give  in  the  order  of  having. 

Gesture  precedes  speech,  and  gestures  of  the 
face  precede  all  others. 


THE  LAW  OF  SEQUENCE.  81 

(c.)  In  the  genesis  of  gesture,  priority  in  the  action  of 
the  agents  of  expression  depends  upon  priority  in  ideas.  So 
we  shall  have  a  sequence  of  the  Outer  as  the  correspondence 
of  a  sequence  of  the  Inner.  Take  the  hand  and  arm  as 
agent,  and  we  have  this  sequence. 

(1.)  Preparation.  (2.)  Direction.  (3.)  Stroke  of  the 
agent. 

In  the  face,  the  sequence  is :  (1.)  The  eye.  (2.)  The 
brow.  (3.)  TJie  lips  and  nostrils,  which  usually  act  to* 
gether. 

So  we  may  say  that  our  Vital  and  Emotive  natures  are 
first  put  into  gesture,  then  the  Mental  makes  its  comment, 
—  that  is,  put  into  speech. 

In  point  of  time,  we  put  expressions  of  our 
Vital  nature  into  gestures  quicker  than  those  of 
our  Emotive  nature ;  and  those  of  our  Emotive 
quicker  than  those  of  our  Mental  nature. 

(d.)  Take  a  single  illustration :  A  man  in  a  moment  of 
passion,  under  the  impression  that  an  insult  is  intended, 
puts  the  Vital  impulse  into  a  blow,  and  knocks  down  his 
opponent.  Hardly  is  he  down  before  the  higher  Emotive 
nature  asserts  itself,  and  the  striker  bends  to  lift  the  pros- 
trate man.  And  now  the  Mental  nature  has  time  to  make 
its  comment,  which  it  puts  into  profuse  apologies.  Let  the 
student  carefully  note  the  rationale  of  Sequence,  or  order  of 
action  of  the  three  states  of  the  Being. 

Our  Vital  nature  is  animal,  physical,  and  instinctive. 
It  springs  first  into  motion  with  all  the  lower  animals  and 
with  man. 

Our  Mental  nature  is  rational,  reflective,  knowing.  It 
takes  time  to  note  relations  ;  it  thinks  before  it  acts.  If  it 
thinks  twice,  and  then  thinks  again,  we  say  it  will  act 
wisely. 

Our  JSmotive  nature  is  closely  allied  to  both  the  Vital 
and  the  Mental.  Its  roots  are  in  the  soil  of  sensation,  its 
branches  in  the  air  of  thought.  So  with  most  persons,  "I 
6 


82  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

feel  it  is  right "  goes  into  act  quicker  than  "  I  ought  to  do 
right." 

Whichever  condition  of  Being  dominates  con- 
sciousness, that  side  will  lead  the  sequence  in 
gesture ;  or,  to  use  Delsarte's  empirical  but  con- 
venient phrase,  "  the  Will  lends  itself  to  which- 
ever side  of  the  Being  is  in  action." 

(e.)  Take  an  illustration,  founded  in  fact,  of  the  order  or 
sequence  of  expression. 

An  artist,  having  taken  offence  at  his  aged  and  wealthy 
patron,  painted  a  satirical  portrait  of  him,  and  invited  him 
to  his  studio. 

The  painter  had  adroitly  introduced  into  the  noble  fea- 
tures the  Darwinian  idea  of  man's  descent.  The  patron  ar- 
rives. The  picture  is  uncovered.  The  patron  (1.)  glances 
at  the  portrait.  (2.)  He  now  looks  at  it  critically.  (3.)  He 
steps  backward  and  partly  closes  his  eyes.  (4.)  He  now 
steps  toward  the  portrait,  and  at  the  same  moment  there  is 
a  spasmodic  closing  of  both  the  hands  and  a  firmly  set 
mouth.  (5.)  Instantly,  now,  his  face  flushes ;  he  glances 
rapidly,  first  at  the  picture,  then  at  the  artist.  Now  (6.)  he 
rocks  the  torso  to  and  fro.  A  moment  only  elapses.  (7.)  He 
draws  upward  the  body  along  the  vertical  line.  He  becomes 
calm,  poises  the  body,  and,  turning  slowly,  (8.)  looks  at  the 
portrait  with  open  and  level  eyes,  —  they  are  judicial  eyes, 
—  then  looks  intently  for  a  moment  into  the  eyes  of  the 
painter,  and  (9.)  without  a  word  leaves  the  studio. 

In  this  case,  it  is  clear  that  in  the  first  moments  the  Men- 
tal dominated  consciousness.  Next,  the  Emotive  and  the 
Vital  struggled  for  supremacy.  At  last  the  higher  Emotive 
(a  blend  of  the  Ethical  and  Reflective  elements)  dominated, 
and  we  had  the  calm  of  conscious  control,  which  we  have 
called  " Poise" 

Now  it  so  happens  that  the  son,  a  young  man  just  fresh 
from  college,  hears  of  the  insult  put  upon  his  father.  He 
strides  to  the  studio ;  he  does  not  walk.  He  forgets  cere. 


THE  LAW  OF  RHYTHM.  83 

mony ;  does  not  stir  the  knocker  at  the  outer  door  ;  speaks 
no  "  by  your  leave  "  at  the  inner.  He  seeks  out  the  por- 
trait. A  glance  sets  him  on  fire.  He  cuts  the  canvas  into 
shreds  with  his  knife.  He  intones,  and  explodes  "radicals" 
like  bombshells,  as  outer  correspondences  of  his  inner  states. 


IX. 

THE   LAW    OF   RHYTHM. 

Rhythm  is  the  measure  of  Time  or  Motion 
by  regularly  recurring  impulses. 

(a.)  Modern  science  has  shown  that  our  satisfaction  in 
rhythmical  motion  has  a  physical  basis.  John  Fiske  thus 
sums  up  the  conclusions  of  a  convincing  argument :  "  In  all 
cases,  whether  in  masses  or  molecules,  rhythm  of  motion  is 
necessitated  by  the  fact  that  in  a  multiform  universe  no 
portion  of  matter  can  move  uninfluenced  by  some  other 
portion.  Hence,  periodicity,  rise  and  fall,  recurrence  of 
maxima  and  minima,  is  the  law  of  all  motion,  whether  in 
the  star  rushing  through  space,  the  leaf  that  trembles  in 
the  breeze,  or  the  blood  that  courses  through  the  arteries" 

It  seems  beyond  dispute  that  our  satisfaction 
in  dancing  and  in  music,  in  song  and  in  the 
cadences  of  oratory,  has  for  its  basis  a  physical 
support.  It  is  through  this  correspondence  that 
the  Plastic  Arts,  Architecture,  Modelling,  and 
Sculpture  gratify  our  aesthetic  nature  by  pre- 
senting, through  proportion  and  symmetry,  the 
rhythm  of  Form.  It  was  this  basis,  in  fact,  that 
gave  immediate  currency  to  the  phrase,  "  archi- 
tecture is  frozen  music." 

(b.)  It  was  this  subtle  force  in  Nature,  seen  in  the  vibra- 


84  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

tion  of  matter,  —  this  dance  and  song,  —  that  the  Greek 
poets  celebrated  in  the  sun  god,  Orpheus,  at  whose  golden 
touch  the  mountains  danced  and  the  trees  nodded  their 
plumes. 

"  For  Orpheus'  lute  "  (the  symbol  of  rhythm  in  nature) 

—  ' '  was  strung  with  poets'  sinews ; 
Whose  golden  touch  could  soften  steel  and  stones, 
Make  tigers  tame,  and  huge  leviathans 
Forsake  unsounded  deeps  to  dance  on  sands." 

Thus  we  find  that  the  rhythmos  of  the  Greek 
philosophers  has  for  its  correspondence  the  wave 
motion  of  modern  Physics. 

The  Law  of  Rhythm  is  the  Law  of  Har- 
mony, and  Harmony  is  the  pervading  Law  of 
the  Universe. 

(c.)  Through  the  Rev.  "Wm.  R.  Alger,  Delsarte  is  cred- 
ited with  this  sublime  concept  of  the  Universe :  — 

"  The  mysteries  of  God  are  revealed  in  Space  and  Time, 
through  Form  and  Motion;  they  are  concentrated  in 
Rhythm,  which  is  vibration  or  swing  of  matter  through 
equal  spaces  and  in  equal  times." 

And  Mr.  Steele  Mackaye,  one  of  the  earliest  students  of 
Delsarte,  thus  reports  the  great  teacher :  — 

"  In  the  universe  God's  purpose  is  shown  through  the 
lapses  of  Time. 

"  His  design,  through  the  realms  of  Space. 

"  His  power,  through  all  the  forms  of  Energy  that  per- 
vade the  universe." 

Do  these  utterances  of  Delsarte  seem  vague,  obscure, 
mystical  ?  Yet  we  must  admit  they  find  their  parallels  in 
the  utterances  of  Aristotle  and  Plato,  Pythagoras  and 
Heraclitus,  and  are  again  and  again  reflected  in  the  writ- 
ings of  Oken  and  Carus,  Goethe  and  Lamarck,  and  by 
metaphysical  thinkers  of  modern  times. 

Let  it  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  Greek  philosophers  had 
no  such  evidence  as  modern  science  presents  upon  which  to 


THE  LAW  OF  RHYTHM.  85 

base  their  conclusions.  Their  deductions  were  purely  subjec- 
tive, and  were  founded  in  felt  correspondences  between  the 
visible  and  the  invisible,  the  physical  and  the  metaphysical. 
.  And  so  the  saying  of  Heraclitus  that  ceaseless  change, 
iravra  pa,  is  the  law  of  all  things,  and  that  in  nature  there 
is  an  endless  flux  and  flow  of  phenomena,  becomes  estab- 
lished fact  in  the  science  of  to-day. 

The  deduction  of  Pythagoras  that  the  Law  of 
Harmony  rests  in  numbers,  and  that  everything 
resolves  itself  into  numerical  relations,  reads  like 
prophecy,  when  science,  after  the  most  exhaust- 
ive experiments,  declares  heat,  light,  and  elec- 
tricity to  be  so  many  modes  of  motion,  and 
that  the  direction  of  modern  physical  science 
is  toward  a  generalization  which  shall  express 
the  fundamental  law  of  all  motion  by  one  simple 
numerical  ratio. 

With  reason  then  we  may  say  that  our  sense 
of  and  delight  in  Rhythm  rest  in  correspondence 
between  physical  and  psychic  conditions;  and 
that  our  gestures,  that  gratify  the  cesthetic 
sense,  reproduce  symmetry  and  proportion,  in 
Space  and  Time,  through  Motion. 

Law :  "The  Vital  nature  expresses  itself 
through  forms  of  objective  rhythm. 

The  Mental  and  Emotive  natures  find  their 
correspondences  in,  and  express  themselves 
through,  forms  of  subjective  rhythm. 

(d.)  Children,  savages,  and  the  inferior  races  everywhere 
delight  in  objective  rhythm.  The  sharper  the  accent  the 
higher  the  enjoyment. 

The  babe  cries  to  have  its  cradle  rocked  accompanied  by 


86  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

the  sway  of  the  nurse's  body  and  the  accented  song.  Sav« 
ages  beat  time  furiously  in  their  war  dances,  and  the  speech 
of  primitive  man  was  doubtless  filled  with  alternately  re- 
curring impulses  of  Vital  sounds. 

In  all  forms  of  art,  as  man  progresses,  undue  accent  and 
emphasis  give  way  to  proportioned  and  harmonious  forms. 
Subjective  forms  of  rhythm  characterize  his  musical,  dra- 
matic, and  poetic  compositions. 

His  architecture  and  sculpture  become  composites  and 
blends  of  material,  form,  and  color,  rhythmical  in  their  pro- 
portions and  relations. 

Let  us  see  how  all  this  bears  upon  the  expres- 
sions of  the  human  organism. 

Well,  place  the  finger  upon  the  pulse,  at  the 
wrist,  and  note  the  rhythmus  of  the  heart  as 
it  beats.  If  the  body  conform  itself  to  this 
rhythm,  you  have  the  sway  and  movement  of 
the  dance. 

Again,  close  the  mouth  and  note  the  inflow 
and  outflow  of  the  breath  through  the  nostrils. 
Here  a  physiological  necessity  comes  in,  and  you 
must  conform  your  speech  to  this  play  of  the 
lungs. 

Thus  in  speech  and  song  physiological  neces- 
sity is  the  basis  of  rhythm. 

(e.)  Let  it  be  noted  that  no  great  poet  ever  sang  the 
songs  of  the  people  who  did  not  sing  them  to  the  rhythm 
of  the  blood  and  breath. 

This  is  why  Longfellow  used  the  eight-syllable  trochaic 
verse  in  "Hiawatha,"  and  Scott  the  eight-syllable  iambic 
verse  in  "  The  Lady  of  the  Lake."  They  literally  floated 
their  songs  down  the  stream  of  their  age  and  time  upon 
the  blood  and  breath  of  the  people. 

In  this  physiological  necessity  rests  the  secret  of  the  de- 


THE  LAW  OF  RHYTHM.  87 

light  which  sailors,  soldiers,  and  peasants  take  in  the  rude 
ballads  which  are  recited  and  sung  to  fill  up  the  hours  of 
the  enforced  leisure  of  ship  or  barrack  life. 

The  normal  rate  of  breathing  is  eighteen  or  twenty 
breaths  in  a  minute,  and  one  or  more  lines  of  the  ballad  or 
song  will  use  up  the  air  of  one  natural  expiration. 

So  Nature  in  the  play  of  her  cosmic  forces, 
and  in  these  organic  pulsations  of  blood  and 
breath,  leads  the  way,  and  man,  catching  the  im- 
pulse, marches  with  measured  and  rhythmical 
swing,  and  adds  color  and  tone  to  heighten  his 
enjoyment. 

Or  he  liberates  the  imprisoned  air  from  an 
hundred  mechanical  instruments,  and  lifts  his 
soul  upon  the  wings  of  music  into  untold  har- 
monies of  sound. 

But  for  his  highest  form  of  expression,  Nature 
has  concentrated  the  powers  of  an  hundred  me- 
chanical instruments  in  one  Vital  instrument,  that 
she  may  voice  the  very  soul  of  rhythm.  So  in 
moments  of  concentrated  passion  he  sings  in 
speech  and  speaks  in  song,  in  correspondence 
with  the  subtle  and  all-pervading  Law  of  the 
Universe,  — Rhythm. 

(/.)  This  concludes  what  the  author  feels  to  be  an  in- 
adequate, but  he  hopes,  nevertheless,  a  suggestive  attempt 
to  establish  a  true  basis  "  in  the  very  nature  and  analogy 
of  things  "  for  Delsarte's  empirical  statement  of  "  The  Nine 
Laws  of  Gesture  "  that  govern  human  expression. 

It  will  be  seen  that  we  have  based  the  whole  class  of 
ideal  gestures  upon  the  analogies  and  correspondences  ex- 
isting between  the  subjective  and  objective  relations  which 
began  with  our  dawning  consciousness,  and  which  gather 


g8  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

strength  and  impressiveness  as  the  Ego  more  and  more 
sees  itself  symbolized  in  external  nature,  and  reads  the  les- 
sons, and  listens  to  the  voices  that,  through  existing  corre- 
spondences, proclaim  its  kinship  and  its  destiny  ! 

That  other  and  better  unfolding  of  these  laws  may  be 
made  is  quite  certain. 

That  more  than  nine  Laws  will  suggest  themselves  to 
the  thoughtful  student  is  probable,  but  the  logic  upon  which 
these  laws  stand  cannot  be  shaken  so  long  as  the  present 
order  and  arrangement  of  things  exist :  that  the  forms  and 
forces  of  external  Nature  type,  symbolize,  and  correspond 
with  the  spiritual. 

Here  we  conclude  our  discussion  of  general 
principles.  Of  the  Universe ;  its  outer  forms. 
Of  the  controlling  Energy  which  is  behind  all 
phenomena.  Of  man  conditioned  as  a  Soul  ii? 
body,  restricted  by  Space,  Time,  and  Motion, 
and  manifesting  his  psychic  states  in  terms  of 
his  environment.  From  the  general  we  descend 
to  the  particular.  We  shall  consider  in  succeed- 
ing chapters  the  human  form  and  its  fitness  for 
expression ;  the  expressions  of  the  agents  of  the 
Being,  the  Head,  Torso,  and  Limbs ;  and  lastly, 
the  expressions  of  the  separate  divisions  or  zones 
of  these  agents. 


CHAPTER  V. 

THE   HUMAN   FORM. ITS   FITNESS   FOB 

EXPRESSION. 

MAN  epitomizes  two  worlds,  —  the  world  of 
matter  and  the  world  of  mind. 

He  is  the  apex  of  organized  matter  through 
his  body,  and  the  summit  of  all  earthly  manifes- 
tation through  his  soul. 

In  a  word,  he  is  a  soul  in  organic  form.  He 
is  the  organized  unity  of  Nature. 

His  body  is  the  extreme  upward  limit  of  phys- 
ical progress  upon  the  earth. 

His  soul  will  yet  mark  the  extreme  limit  of 
psychic  progress  upon  the  earth. 

The  excellence  of  form  now  possessed  by  man 
was  in  the  scheme  of  animal  existence  long  be- 
fore he  made  his  appearance  upon  earth.  He  is 
prefigured  through  the  whole  chain  of  Being. 
All  organized  forms  below  him  predicted  him. 

The  prediction  was  yet  far  from  its  fulfilment 
when,  in  the  course  of  her  creative  acts,  Nature1 

1  The  author  wishes  it  understood  that  he  personifies  Nature  as  act- 
ing force,  as  a  convenient  term  with  which  to  cover  all  secondary 
causes  of  phenomena. 

He  adopts  Argyll's  definition,  as  given  in  his  recent  work,  The 
Unity  of  Nature:  "A  word  for  the  whole  sum  and  system  of  intelli- 


90  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

evolved  a  line  of  nerve  substance,  enclosed  it 
within  a  bony  case,  and  fitted  an  organism  to  its 
environment  of  water. 

Prediction  grew  into  prophecy  in  the  reptiles 
and  reptilian  birds.  Prophecy  became  assurance 
in  the  beasts  of  the  forest,  and  in  the  anthropoid 
apes.  Assurance  became  fulfilment  in  man. 

The  line  of  nerve  substance  which  Nature 
had  traced  in  her  simplest  vertebrate  structure, 
through  the  slow  progress  of  adaptation  in  great 
reaches  of  time,  had  notf  organized  itself  into  a 
central  mass,  with  smaller  masses  at  points  of  the 
human  territory ;  and,  marvel  of  creation,  the 
nerve  pulp  took  hemispheric  form,  and  became 
the  throne  of  Reason  and  the  special  seat  of  the 
Intellect. 

(a.)  Do  these  words  read  like  unsupported  prophecy  with 
poetic  coloring  ?  When  we  wrote  these  sentences  the  latest 
conclusions  of  John  Fiske  had  not  been  given  to  the  world. 

We  quote  from  his  recent  volume,  "  The  Destiny  of  Man." 
Touching  man's  evolution,  Mr.  Fiske  says :  "  At  length  there 
came  that  wonderful  moment  at  which  psychical  changes  be- 
gan to  be  of  more  use  than  physical  changes  to  the  brute  an- 
cestor of  man.  Henceforth  the  life  of  the  nascent  soul  came 
to  be  first  in  importance,  and  the  bodily  life  became  subordi- 
nate to  it.  According  to  Darwin,  it  is  impossible  that  any 
other  creature,  zoologically  distinct  from  man  and  superior 
to  him,  should  ever,  at  any  future  time,  appear  upon  the 
earth.  According  to  Darwin,  the  creation  of  man  is  still 
the  goal  toward  which  Nature  tended  from  the  beginning." 

And  this  is  the  great  scientist's  conclusion :  "  Not  the  pro» 

gible  things.  The  embodiment  of  all  order,  the  expression  of  ali 
truth." 


THE  HUMAN  FORM.  91 

duction  of  any  higher  creation,  but  the  perfecting  of  hu- 
manity, is  to  be  the  glorious  consummation  of  Nature's  long 
and  tedious  work." 

Thus  man  stands  upon  the  earth, — a  mind  en- 
cased in  matter,  a  spirit  in  substance,  a  soul  in 
body.  This  form,  an  apparition  (that  which  ap- 
pears), manifesting  (showing  its  hand),  as  three 
conditions  of  one  Being. 

Let  us  examine  this  form  and  its  fitness  for 
Expression. 

And  first.  The  human  form  holds  itself  against 
the  downward  force  of  gravity  with  less  expendi- 
ture of  muscular  energy  than  that  of  any  other 
land  mammal. 

In  the  human  structure  all  arranges  itself  with 
reference  to  static  equilibrium. 

For,  note.  The  whole  weight  of  the  mass 
stands  vertically  above  the  organs  of  support. 
This  releases  the  muscles  of  the  head,  torso,  and 
arms  from  the  downward  drag  of  gravity. 

The  head,  which  in  all  the  large  four-footed 
mammals,  as  the  ox  and  horse,  needs  large  mus- 
cles to  hold  it  against  gravity,  presses,  in  man, 
directly  downwards  upon  the  common  centre. 

And  further,  note  the  disposition  of  the  great 
central  organs,  the  lungs,  heart,  and  viscera,  in 
the  cavities  of  the  thorax  and  pelvis.  The  whole 
mass  is  balanced  along  the  line  of  gravity. 

The  body  may  be  regarded  as  presenting  well- 
defined  halves,  each  half  jealously  guarding  the 
equilibrium  of  the  whole. 


92  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

(b.)  The  student  may  easily  trace  the  septum,  or  dividing 
line  of  these  halves,  from  the  double  organ,  the  brain,  evenly 
balanced  in  its  dome-shaped  case,  through  the  cleft  of  the 
hard  palate. 

Then  the  lungs  and  heart  keep  the  poise,  and  the  viscera 
maintain  it.  The  arms  and  legs  help  the  equipoise  and  be- 
come radii,  adding  new  supports  in  cases  of  emergency. 
Then  the  more  than  five  hundred  muscles,  equally  disposed 
on  either  side,  actively  guard  the  balance  of  the  mass. 

The  human  body  fulfils  what  we  may  conceive 
to  be  Nature's  design  :  — 

To  place  upon  earth  a  being  who  should  hold 
its  mass  along  a  vertical  line  against  the  levelling 
force  of  gravity.  Should,  in  its  escape  from  the 
degradation  of  gravity,  avoid  friction  in  move- 
ment. Should  thus  reduce  weight  and  friction 
—  the  opposing  elements  of  its  freedom  —  to 
the  lowest  point  consistent  with  size  and  strength. 

So,  as  among  vertebrates,  the  reptiles  repre- 
sent the  line  of  greatest  inthralment  to  gravity 
and  friction,  man  represents  the  line  of  greatest 
enfranchisement. 

We  may  formulate  our  conclusions  regarding 
the  evolution  of  animal  structure  in  a  law. 

The  Law  of  Animal  Structure :  — 

In  animal  proportions  the  predominating 
mass  is  disposed  along  the  horizontal  line. 

In  human  proportions  the  predominating 
mass  is  disposed  along  the  vertical  line. 

(c.)  Thus  all  animal  life  may  be  represented  as  included 
within  the  two  lines  forming  a  right  angle.  The  horizontal 
line  is  the  line  of  greatest  inthralment ;  as  the  animal  rises 


THE  HUMAN  FORM.  93 

in  the  scale  of  being,  it  approaches  the  vertical  in  struc- 
ture. 

And  man,  by  the  law  of  structure,  may  be  pronounced 
the  highest  earthly  organism,  and  justifies  the  ancient  defini- 
tion of  him :  — 

"  Man  is  he  of  the  upturned  face." 

We  are  indebted  to  that  marvellous  race,  the 
ancient  Greeks,  for  our  ideas  of  proportion  and 
symmetry  of  the  human  form.  For  nearly  three 
thousand  years  the  antiques,  Apollo  and  Venus, 
have  been  accepted  in  the  world  of  art  as  the 
highest  ideals  of  the  human  form.  ^Esthetic 
taste  is  satisfied  when  one  looks  upon  these  in- 
comparable ideals  of  strength,  beauty,  and  pro- 
portioned harmony.  Even  if  one  does  not  rea- 
son about  it,  the  feeling  is  that  here  is  perfection 
of  form. 

If  one  stops  to  analyze  his  feeling,  he  discov- 
ers that  a  large  part  of  his  satisfaction  rests  in  a 
gratified  sense  of  equilibrium  or  poise ;  and  in  the 
inference  that  if  the  statue  could  step  down  from 
its  pedestal  it  would  move  with  ease,  safety,  and 
strength. 

Delsarte  is  reported  to  have  used  the  term 
"  Grace "  to  cover  a  trinity  of  elements  that 
must  be  presented,  in  a  statue  or  in  the  human 
form,  to  make  a  unity  or  highest  form  of  Expres- 
sion. 

This  is  the  reported  formula :  — 

Law :  The  human  form  has  Grace  in  ex- 
pression when  it  combines,  in  unity,  the  three 
elements  of  Ease,  Precision,  and  Harmony. 


94  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

In  this  analysis  he  made  ease  to  express  the 
Vital  nature,  precision  the  Mental,  and  harmony 
the  Emotive. 

If  either  of  these  three  elements  is  too  prom- 
inent, the  unity  of  the  expression  is  destroyed. 
Thus  if  (1.)  Ease  in  human  gesture  be  too 
prominent,  the  expression  becomes  first  as- 
surance, then  familiarity,  and  at  last  vul- 
garity. 

So  intoxication  is  ease  let  loose. 

(2.)  If  precision  be  too  prominent,  there  is 
pedantry. 

Pedantry  is  precision  running  in  grooves.  Ease, 
speaking  from  the  Vital  Being,  would  ask  with 
abruptness,  "Who  is  the  young  cross-eyed?" 
Precision,  with  definiteness,  "Who  is  the  young 
person  with  the  slight  obliquity  of  vision  ?  " 

(3.)  If  harmony  be  too  prominent,  there  is 
affectation. 

Harmony  is  too  close  an  addiction  to  curved 
lines.  Emotive  sestheticism  seeks  too  many  lines 
of  beauty. 

When  the  three  elements,  ease,  precision,  and 
harmony,  exist  in  poise,  we  have  the  highest 
form  of  expression,  —  Grace. 

(d.)  It  would  be  strange  if  the  Exterior  did  not  conform 
to  the  Interior.  So  we  find  that  the  body  confirms  the  above 
psychological  analysis. 

Two  sets  of  muscles  control  all  our  movements,  —  exten- 
sors and  flexors.  Acting  in  sympathy,  they  poise  the  body, 
or  place  it  in  stable  equilibrium. 

Now  an  excess  of  either  of  the  three  natures,  Vital,  Emo. 


THE  HUMAN  FORM.  95 

tive,  or  Mental,  will  inevitably  manifest  itself  in  the  manner 
we  have  indicated. 

The  student  is  asked  to  ponder  deeply  the  significance  of 
these  manifestations  of  the  Being.  We  have  proceeding 
from  a  single  undivided  essence  three  forms  of  expression, 
each  having  its  distinctive  characteristics,  and,  as  will  be 
found,  each  choosing  the  ground  of  its  display  in  some  tract 
or  division  of  the  body. 

Take  an  illustration  from  the  pages  of  the  great  English 
painter  of  the  moods,  morals,  and  manners  of  his  age  and 
time.  Let  the  student  construct  the  action  from  the  graphic 
picture  of  the  Vital  nature  let  loose :  — 

"  A  big,  loud  man  with  a  stare  and  a  metallic  laugh.  A 
man  made  out  of  coarse  material,  which  seemed  to  be 
stretched,  to  make  so  much  of  him. 

"  A  man  who  could  never  sufficiently  vaunt  himself  a 
self-made  man.  Always  proclaiming  through  that  brassy 
speaking-trumpet  of  a  voice  his  old  ignorance  and  his  old 
poverty. 

" '  I  had  n't  a  shoe  to  my  foot,  sir ;  as  to  a  stocking,  I 
did  n't  know  such  a  thing  by  name.  I  passed  the  day  in  a 
ditch,  and  the  night  in  a  pigsty. 

" '  That 's  the  way  I  spent  my  tenth  birthday  !  Not  that 
a  ditch  was  new  to  me,  for  I  was  born  in  a  ditch ! ' ! 

Take  a  second  illustration.  It  may  be  said  that  all  great 
orators  move  out  from  the  psychic  centre  into  the  audience 
over  three  divergent  lines. 

Like  generals  who  hold  the  reins  of  three  armies,  they 
have  learned  that  three  natures  can  move  along  the  lines  of 
attack.  The  question  becomes,  then,  a  matter  of  forces  to  be 
brought  into  action.  Whether  will  the  general  more  surely 
conquer  with  one  army  or  with  three  ? 

Both  the  greatest  American  preacher,  Beecher,  and  the 
greatest  English  preacher,  Spurgeon,  are  powerful  before 
the  people,  because  they  have  control  of  three  well-propor- 
tioned and  generously  large  natures,  with  the  Emotive  lead- 
ing, a  strong  Vital  to  sustain,  and  from  the  Mental  side  of 


96  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

the  Being,  more,  especially  in  Beecher,  a  wonderfully  vivid 
imagination  and  conceptive  power  of  the  highest  order. 

Most  preachers  have  but  one  army  to  bring  into  action. 
It  is  an  army  of  syllogisms.  The  attack  is  along  the  frigid 
line  of  the  Mental.  Two  armies  are  meanwhile  idle  in  their 
tents.  The  attack  lacks  blood  and  breath. 

Said  the  great  Welsh  preacher  of  the  last  century,  Christ- 
mas Evans:  "Never  raise  the  voice  while  the  heart  is 
dry!" 

The  architecture  and  sculpture  of  different 
peoples  verify  these  deductions. 

Primitive  man  made  the  rudest  possible  resem- 
blances of  objects,  and  his  forms  of  architecture 
were  masses  of  rocks  of  irregular  shapes,  show- 
ing that  Vital  instincts  rather  than  premeditated 
design  prompted  the  manifestation. 

In  Assyrian  and  Egyptian  architecture  preci- 
sion and  strength  ruled,  and  gigantic  figures 
with  Vital  calm  in  the  faces,  and  great  temples 
hewn  out  of  solid  rock,  testify  to  the  Mento-Vital 
elements  which  rule  these  manifestations. 

Greek  architecture  and  sculpture  present  the 
highest  forms  of  expression  that  have  yet  ap- 
peared upon  the  earth.  Greek  forms  must  be 
for  ages  the  inspiration  of  art,  for  they  present 
blends  of  the  three  elements,  ease,  precision, 
and  harmony,  in  perfect  poise  of  proportion  and 
symmetry. 

(e.)  It  is  a  little  curious  that  the  drawings  of  the  man 
of  the  quaternary  period,  of  the  present  races  of  savages, 
and  of  all  civilized  children  present  the  same  character- 
istics of  crudeness  and  want  of  precision.  They  are  all  in 
the  Vital  stage  of  human  progress,  and  they  each  would 


THE  HUMAN  FORM.  97 

represent,  say,  the  picture  of  a  man  in  the  same  crude  way, 
namely,  a  circular  form  for  the  head,  a  triangle  for  the 
torso,  and  straight  lines  for  the  arms  and  legs. 

So,  in  the  Vital  age  of  the  world,  the  Assyrians  and 
Egyptians  filled  their  colossal  figures  with  an  intense  and 
impressive  Vital  force. 

In  conclusion,  Delsarte  affirms  an  added  ele- 
ment. He  is  reported  to  have  said:  Perfect 
gesture  requires  Reason,  in  addition  to  Grace. 

The  elements  of  Reason  are  Power,  Wis- 
dom, and  Love,  and  they  dwell  in  perfection 
only  in  the  Spiritual. 

(/.)  This  conclusion  of  Delsarte  calls  to  mind  an  utter- 
ance made  to  the  author  by  Wendell  Phillips.  Said  this 
poised  orator  from  the  Greek  age  appearing  in  our  nine- 
teenth century  in  America :  "  He  only  is  a  great  orator 
who  can  utter  Reason  without  Passion." 


CHAPTER  VI 

THE     HUMAN     FORM:     ACTION     AS     DETERMINED 
FROM    THE    BASE. 

IN  the  Arts  of  Speech  —  Reading,  Recitation, 
Personation,  and  Oratory — the  human  form, 
whether  in  poise  or  in  action,  has  a  single  office, 
namely,  to  show  forth  the  interplay  of  soul  and 
body. 

So  Delsarte's  definition  of  gesture  is  essen- 
tially an  art  definition  :  — 

The  manifestation  of  the  Being  through  the 
activity  of  the  body. 

And  this  manifestation  is  always  made  through 
motion ;  or  through  form,  which  is  an  arrest  of 
motion. 

(a.)  The  expression  which  form  presents  is  doubtless  due 
to  the  subjective  process  by  which  we  endow  the  form  with 
the  attributes  of  life. 

We  infer  that  some  mood  has  just  given  motion  to  the 
form,  and  we  seem  to  see  the  mood  through  the  arrested 
form. 

It  is  doubtful  whether  any  other  animal  than  man  recog- 
nizes life  in  any  other  way  than  through  motion. 

Thus  from  Utility  —  service  of  the  body  or 
any  of  its  organs  in  the  animal  economy  — •  Art 


ACTION  FROM  THE  BASE.  99 

looks  to  Expression,  the  significance  of  body,  or 
organ,  in  the  aesthetic  economy. 

Important  as  are  the  sense  organs,  grouped  in 
the  small  space  of  the  face,  in  the  economy  of 
Life,  they  become  the  most  expressive  agents  in 
the  economy  of  Art. 

A  thousand  uses  has  the  hand !  A  coarse 
animal  tool  in  the  savage,  in  the  civilized  man, 
tools  proceed  and  arts  radiate  from  the  ten  sep- 
arated fingers.1  Garth  Wilkinson  concludes  that 
the  highest  use  of  the  body  on  this  earth  is  to 
enable  the  Soul  to  personate  itself  in  a  world  of 
dead  matter. 

And  it  would  seem  that  Nature  has  reached 
her  ultimate  goal,  spoken  her  last  organic  word, 
in  her  presentation  upon  earth  of  Expressive 
Man. 

And  we  may  confidently  conclude  that  the 
evolution  of  man  as  an  expressive  being  has  been 
a  constant  and  progressive  development  along 
the  three  parallels  of  Structure,  Function,  and 
Utility. 

(5.)  A  diagram  may  assist  the  student  to  gain  our  idea 
of  how,  in  the  course  of  human  development,  structure, 
function,  and  utility  have  steadily  moved  on  towards  their 
culmination  in  Expression. 


Utility. 
EXPRESSION. 


1  All  human  art  is  but  an  increment  of  the  power  of  the  hand. 
Vision  and  manipulation  in  their  countless  and  indirect  forms  are  the 
two  cooperative  factors  in  all  intellectual  progress. — JOHN  FISKE, 
The  Destiny  of  Man. 


100  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

So  far  as  we  know,  no  life  has  appeared  upon  the  earth 
outside  a  material  form.  A  structure  is  essential  to  the 
appearance  of  life,  and  always  accompanies  such  appear- 
ance. 

But  appearance  is  not  maintenance.  When  life  has  ap- 
peared, in  order  to  survive,  it  must  be  able  to  maintain  itself 
against  the  forces  that  would  destroy  it.  Hence  the  pro- 
vision Nature  has  made  of  organs.  And  it  is  the  action  of 
the  organ  to  maintain  life  against  opposing  forces  that  we 
call  its  function.  It  is  the  function  of  the  heart  to  beat, 
the  lungs  to  heave,  the  stomach  to  digest,  the  eye  to  see. 

Both  structure  and  function,  in  every  animal  upon  earth 
save  one,  completely  answer  their  ends  when  they  give  out- 
ward expression  to  life,  work  in  its  service,  protect  it,  and 
perpetuate  it  through  other  similar  lives. 

This  is  the  perpetual  round  of  structure  and  function  in 
all  the  lower  animals.  All  this  adaptation  to  environment 
ends  with  Utility. 

And  man  is  man  because  in  him  all  the  organs  of  the 
animal  are  lifted  into  the  highest  significance.  In  him 
structure,  function,  and  utility  serve  a  Soul. 

And  so  human  expression  evolves  from  structure,  func- 
tion, and  utility,  as  naturally  as  the  flower  from  root  and 
branch,  stem  and  bud. 

Emerson  has  somewhere  said  :  "  What  Nature  at  one 
time  provides  for  use  she  afterwards  turns  to  ornament ; " 
and  Spencer,  after  quoting  these  lines  of  the  great  idealist, 
says :  "  It  has  often  occurred  to  me  that  the  same  might  be 
said  of  the  progress  of  humanity." 

Structure,  Function,  Utility,  Expression.  In 
these  terms  we  quote  all  the  words  of  Life. 

The  possibilities  of  each  animal  are  predicated 
along  these  lines  of  development;  and  we  may 
read  the  history  of  man's  progress  toward  the 
spiritual  in  the  syntheses  presented  through  the 
whole  chain  of  animal  existence. 


ACTION  FROM  THE  BASE.  101 

Hence,  Oken  has  called  man  the  panaesthetic 
animal.  And  we  may  say  without  violence  that 
the  animal  kingdom  is  only  a  dismemberment  of 
the  highest  animal,  man ;  and  that  animals  be- 
come nobler  in  rank,  the  greater  the  number  of 
organs  that  are  collectively  liberated,  or  severed, 

from  the  grand  animal,  man. 

• 

(c.)  In  the  vertebrate  kingdom  there  is  no  change  from 
the  structural  type.  All  changes  are  made  through  con- 
stant differentiation. 

And  we  may  confidently  state  three  things  in  three  prop- 
ositions as  true  of  each  and  every  animal  upon  earth :  — 

I.  Structure  determines  the  kind  and  amount  of  motion 
possible  to  the  animal. 

II.  Function  is  determined  by  the  kind  of  organs  pos- 
sessed by  the  animal. 

III.  Expression  is  an  outgrowth  from  structure  and 
function,  and  appears  in  no  other  animal  except  man  as  a 
conscious  act  of  the  Being,  and  hence  is  determined  by  the 
kind  and  amount  of  the  Psychic  element. 

We  trust  that  the  student  will  be  led  to  ex- 
amine the  base  upon  which  the  human  form 
stands  with  a  new  interest,  as  we  consider  its  re- 
lations through  structure,  function,  and  utility, 
to  expression. 

Agassiz  defines  the  foot  of  a  primate,  to  which 
order  of  the  class  mammalia  man  belongs,  as  a 
limb  terminated  by  digits,  all  on  the  same  level, 
and  all  having  the  same  direction. 

But  Broca,  the  French  anthropologist,  with 
more  breadth,  thus  defines  the  human  base :  — 

A  foot  is  an  extremity  which  serves  chiefly 


102  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

for  standing  or  walking,  and  a  hand  is  an  ex- 
tremity which  serves  chiefly  for  prehension  and 
touch. 

The  foot  is  perfect  when  it  answers  the  ends 
of  standing  and  walking. 

And  the  hand  is  perfect  when  it  answers  the 
ends  of  prehension  and  touch. 

But  to  fully  discover  the  functions  of  either 
hand  or  foot  it  is  necessary  to  examine  the 
structures  as  wholes  of  which  they  are  parts. 

Three  conditions  of  structure  fit  all  land  mam- 
mals for  locomotion. 

(1.)  A  shaft-like  hone  must  be  received  into 
a  deep  hemispherical  cavity  looking  downwards 
and  outwards. 

This  structure  allows  the  limb  to  move  freely 
in  two  directions,  —  from  before,  backwards,  and 
from  behind,  forwards,  —  thus  giving  the  to-and- 
fro  movement  of  locomotion; 

The  legs  of  animals  are  vital  pendulums ;  they 
mark  distances  on  the  dial  face  of  time.  At 
this  point  all  other  movements  except  the  pen- 
dulum are  very  limited. 

(2.)  Two  bones  more  or  less  united  are  jointed 
with  the  shaft-like  bone.  They  act  as  a  single 
bone,  in  order  to  better  sustain  the  weight  of  the 
body  and  keep  the  foot  from  turning. 

(3.)  The  jointings  above  the  part  touching  the 
ground  allow  two  movements,  —  flexion  and  ex- 
tension,— and  should  form  with  the  foot  a  neai 
approach  to  a  right  angle,  so  as  to  present  a  flat 
surface  to  the  earth. 


ACTION  FROM  THE  BASE.  103 

We  have  thus  presented  Nature's  general  plan 
of  structure  to  serve  locomotion  for  all  land 
mammals. 

All  land  mammals,  save  man,  touch  the  earth 
with  four  shafts,  or  levers. 

In  man,  two  of  these  shafts  are  set  free.  This 
fact  will  be  found  to  have  an  immense  signifi- 
cance. It  correlates  with  all  the  other  facts  that 
mark  man's  supremacy  upon  the  earth. 

It  makes  possible  a  new  definition  of  man : 
The  animal  that  has  both  feet  and  hands. 

Through  the  two  only  does  he  attain  free- 
dom. 

(d.)  It  is  not,  as  has  been  imagined,  the  hands,  as  hands, 
that  confer  nobility  upon  man.  For  physically  they  cause 
the  loss  of  half  the  power  of  standing  and  moving. 

But  in  man  there  are  hands  and  feet,  that  the  two  func- 
tions of  touching  and  standing  may  each  approach  a  possible 
perfection. 

Should  both  hands  and  feet  exercise  the  sense  of  touch, 
the  motion  is  impaired.  Should  both  move  the  body,  the 
sense  suffers. 

So  the  feet  support  the  body,  and  stand  in  its  service.  The 
hands  are  supported  by  the  body,  and  stand  in  the  service 
of  the  soul. 

The  four  hands  of  the  anthropoids  are  therefore  an 
imperfection  and  a  limitation,  which  we  need  not  envy 
them. 

If  we  would  represent  the  ruling  proportions 
of  the  animals  next  man,  the  quadrupeds,  we 

project  an  horizontal  line  ,  and  imagine 

mass  disposed  along  that  line. 


104  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

If  we  would  represent  the  ruling  propor- 
tions of  man,  we  project  a  vertical  line,  and  im- 
agine mass  disposed  along  that  line. 

And  we  can  represent  all  animal  life  along 
the  angles  made  by  Hf  ting  the  horizon- 
tal toward  the  vertical.  It  is  upon  the 
implications  and  revelations  of  devel- 
opment along  these  lines  that  we  find  the  ration- 
ale of  Delsarte's 

LAW    OF   RADIATIONS. 

Law:  Animal  Radiations  are  downwards. 
Human  Radiations  are  upwards  and  out- 
wards. 

(e.)  It  is  difficult  to  comprehend  the  full  significance  of 
this  release  of  the  two  levers,  —  the  arms  and  hands. 

But  it  seems  apparent  that  he  who  was  to  epitomize  the 
universe,  group  all  its  material  forms  and  forces  in  his  body, 
reflect  and  type  the  spiritual  through  his  soul,  must  be  able 
to  assume  the  vertical,  and  to  project  radial  lines  in  all  di- 
rections into  the  spaces  around  him. 

If,  as  Oken  has  somewhere  finely  said,  God  thought  the 
whole  thought  of  creation  once  more,  and  that  thought  was 
man,  surely  this  bearer  of  all  dignities  must  lift  his  face 
from  the  earth,  stand  in  conscious  equilibrium,  and  realize 
all  the  conditions  of  movement  and  balance  in  the  highest 
degree. 

Let  us  see  how  man  realizes  these  conditions 
of  poise  and  motion. 

We  have  already  considered  Nature's  general 
plan  of  structure  for  poise  and  locomotion  in  all 
mammals.  Let  us  note  the  significance  of  the 


ACTION  FROM  THE  BASE.  105 

differentiation  in  man  from  this  general  struc- 
tural plan. 

(1.)  In  the  human  structure,  the  thigh  bone  is 
a  shaft  fitted  to  play  easily  in  its  cup-like  cavity, 
giving  considerable  freedom  of  movement  at  the 
hips. 

It  easily  executes  the  pendulum  movement  in 
walking,  and  (a  high  consideration  in  art)  it  per- 
mits the  right  and  left  leg  each  to  describe  180° 
of  a  circle,  —  a  performance  impossible  to  any 
other  mammal. 

(2.)  Two  bones  are  jointed  at  the  knee  with 
the  long  shaft  of  the  thigh. 

These  two  bones  act  as  one,  and  form  a  shorter 
second  shaft,  capable  of  a  quicker  pendulum 
movement. 

(3.)  These  two  bones  fall  vertically  upon  the 
crown  of  an  elastic  arch  of  wonderful  strength 
and  lightness,  forming  a  loose  hinge  at  the  joint- 
ings of  the  ankle,  which  allows  considerable  -'free- 
dom of  movement. 

The  arch  forming  the  foot  rests  upon  two 
points  of  support,  —  the  strong,  knob-like  bone 
of  the  heel,  and  upon  the  bones  which  form  the 
ball  of  the  foot. 

(/.)  Thus,  together  with  all  the  mammals,  we  find  man 
bound  to  the  earth.  With  all  other  mammals  the  four  shafts 
radiate  downward,  and  are  Vital  in  significance.  With  man, 
the  two  shafts  that  touch  the  earth  have  the  same  signifi- 
cance. They  are  Vital.  Their  primary  office  is  locomotion. 
But  psychic  faculty  and  instrument  of  faculty  keep  pace 
in  development,  and  the  lower  limbs  are  now  supports  to  lift 
the  expressive  body  into  the  vertical. 


106  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

We  shall  find  sure  and  certain  evidence  that  the  released 
levers,  radiating  outwards  and  upwards,  become  the  special 
and  significant  agents  of  the  Mental  and  Emotive  Being. 

It  was  rare  insight  in  Delsarte  that  put  into  formulae  these 
deductions,  based  in  the  revelations  of  the  human  structure, 
as 

THE  THREE   GRAVITATIONS. 

Man  gravitates  to  the  Earth  through  his  feet. 
To  Humanity  through  the  torso. 
To  the  Universe  through  the  eye. 


CHAPTER  VIL 

THE  HUMAN  FORM  CONTINUED. STRUCTURE  AS 

DETERMINING  ACTION. INDICATIONS  OF  THE 

FEET. 

WE  examined  in  our  last  chapter  the  base 
upon  which  stands  the  only  animal  capable  of 
sustaining  the  mass  of  its  body  along  the  ver- 
tical line. 

To  hold  this  mass  against  the  force  of  gravity 
in  equilibrium,  and  in  its  action  to  combine  the 
elements  of  stability,  strength,  and  freedom,  three 
difficulties  arising  from  structure  must  be  sur- 
mounted. 

These  difficulties  are  :  — 

(1.)  The  narrowness  of  the  base  upon  which 
the  structure  stands. 

(2.)  A  formidable  difficulty:  the  height  of 
the  centre  of  gravity  above  the  base. 

(3.)  The  projection  of  the  parts,  above  and 
away  from  the  line  vertical  to  the  centre. 

How  the  genius  of  a  race,  through  its  repre- 
sentative artists,  overcame  these  difficulties  in 
presentations  of  the  human  form,  the  Greek 
sculptors  have  shown  the  world  in  their  incom- 
parable statues,  which  present  to  the  eye  that 


108  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

exquisite  harmony  of  form,  which  we  term  grace- 
ful; that  combination  of  the  elements  of  phys- 
ical power  and  mental  strength  in  poise,  which 
we  call  commanding  or  heroic,  and  which  arises 
from  a  perfection  of  proportion  and  symmetry 
which  takes  away  all  fear  of  sufficient  firmness 
of  support. 

(a.)  We  present  here  the  technical  rule  formulated  by 
Da  Vinci  for  posing  statues.  The  student  will  note  that 
this  rule  applies  to  the  living  static  form  as  well  as  to  its 
representations  in  statues. 

"The  foot  which  at  any  instant  sustains  the  principal 
weight  of  the  mass  must  be  so  placed  that  a  vertical  line 
let  fall  from  the  middle  point  between  the  shoulders,  known 
as  the  little  well  of  the  neck,  shall  pass  through  the  heel 
of  the  foot.  The  other  foot  acts  as  a  lever  to  keep  the 
mass  balanced  and  prevent  it  from  tottering." 

The  living,  moving  human  form  overcomes  the 
three  difficulties  mentioned  above  by  a  marvel- 
lous adaptation  and  play  of  vital  mechanics;  of 
levers,  blocks,  hammers,  wedges,  of  ropes  and  pul- 
leys, of  arcs,  pillars,  cushions,  shafts,  of  the  most 
ingenious  complexity  and  entire  adaptability. 

(b.)  We  may  well  uncover  our  heads  and  stand  in  awe, 
*s  with  the  vision  of  inference  we  count  the  steps  by  which 
the  spiritual  perfected  itself  in  this  last  appearance  upon 
earth,  —  Man. 

From  the  simplest  vertebrate  structure,  —  a  prone  line  of 
bones  with  an  enclosed  thread  of  nerve  matter,  all  parts  of 
which  were  bound  to  earth  by  equal  pressure,  —  through  fish, 
reptile,  bird,  and  beast,  this  vertebral  column  had  lifted 
itself  towards  the  vertical  through  long  lapses  of  time  and 
by  constant  differentiations. 


STRUCTURE  AS  DETERMINING  ACTION.    109 

We  may  imagine  that  —  in  the  dim  twilight  that  pre- 
saged the  appearance  of  man  —  Nature  paused  for  a  mo- 
ment from  her  creative  work  to  consider ;  when,  one  day,  an 
anthropoid,  type  and  promise  of  the  hair-clad  speechless  man, 
who  was  to  make  way  for  the  speaking  and  knowing  man, 
threw  upwards  and  backwards  his  arms,  swept  with  a  dazed 
look  for  an  instant  the  circle  of  the  horizon,  approached  for 
a  moment  the  vertical,  then  fell  back  on  all  fours  ! 

Our  good  earth  mother  pondered.  Then  she  said  :  "  Let 
us  stand  this  column  of  bones  upright.  Let  us  throw  out 
from  this  central  axis  a  series  of  arcs  facing  backwards  and 
forming  a  channel,  and  let  us  fill  this  channel  with  life  or 
nerve  matter. 

"  Now,  we  will  throw  out  from  our  axis  a  second  series  of 
expanded  arcs  facing  forwards,  making  a  strong  bony  box, 
in  which  we  will  place  heart  and  lungs,  the  organs  of  blood 
and  breath. 

"  And  yet  a  third  cavity,  let  us  fashion,  at  the  lower  ter- 
minus of  the  column,  where  we  will  place  the  organs  for 
the  sustaining  and  perpetuating  of  life,  that  this  being  may 
not  perish  from  the  earth. 

"Now,  we  will  surmount  this  structure  with  some  closed 
arcs,  taking  the  form  of  a  sphere,  that  we  may  symbolize 
the  round  earth  which  is  to  be  the  theatre  of  this  being's 
activities,  and  which  shall  teach  him  many  a  lesson  of  cor- 
respondence. 

"  Let  us  fill  the  dome  of  this  sphere  with  white  and  gray 
nerve  matter  curiously  folded,  and  below  let  us  build  seven 
gateways,  opening  outwards,  but  leading  inwards.  At  the 
portals  of  the  gates  let  us  place  seven  trusty  servitors,  that 
all  the  appearances  of  the  outer  world  may  become  the  ex- 
periences of  the  soul,  that  this,  my  greatest  work  on  earth, 
shall  live,  know,  love,  and  worship." 

Then  Infinite  Wisdom,  Love,  and  Power  breathed  upon 
this  form,  and  it  became  Man,  the  image  of  the  Spiritual : 
to  rule  the  world  of  matter,  to  organize  science,  to  perfect 
art,  to  extend  commerce,  to  evolve  literature,  to  found  com- 
munities, to  establish  morality,  to  further  the  humanities,  to 
worship  the  Infinite  One. 


110  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

Let  us  summarize  our  deductions  drawn  from 
structure  and  function,  as  presented  by  the  land 
mammals. 

I.  In  the  land  mammals,  nearest  man,  the 
four  lengths,  shafts,  or  limbs  have  but  a  single 
function,  namely,  to  further  the  activities  of 
the  animal  in  the  struggle  for  existence. 

Their  expression  is  wholly  Vital.  Their  use 
is  for  locomotion,  defence,  and  occasional  pre- 
hension. 

II.  In  man,  while  the  two  lower  limbs  retain 
their  vital  function,  the  two  upper  limbs  are 
released.    Unlike  any  other  mammal,  with  man 
the  two  shafts  perform  the  office  of  locomotion 
and  hold  the  mass  against  the  attack  of  grav- 
ity. 

III.  The  two  shafts  thus  released  (the  hand 
and   arm)  are   with  man  structurally   united 
with  the  head,  while  with  all  other  mammals 
they  are  structurally  united  with  the  body. 

And  —  most  important  conclusion  —  this 
freedom  of  the  expressive  agents,  the  hand  and 
arm,  unlocks  the  human  face,  and  makes  it  the 
highest  bodily  correspondence  of  the  Emotive 
nature. 

(c.)  It  is  important  here  that  the  student  shall  recall  our 
statement  of  the  central  law  of  the  Being  :  — 

Man  is  one  in  consciousness  ;  three  in  manifestation. 

The  dominations  of  the  three  natures  are  made  visible 
through  the  body  by  motion  and  form.  Hence  the  posi- 
tions and  movements  of  the  feet  disclose  the  ruling  states 
of  the  Being. 


STRUCTURE  AS  DETERMINING  ACTION.    Ill 

Delsarte  divides  the  foot  into  three  divisions : 
front,  middle,  back. 

I.  When  the  Vital  nature  dominates  conscious- 
ness, form  and  motion  are  eccentric,  and  the 
weight  of  the  mass  is  thrown  upon  the  front 
foot. 

II.  When  the  Mental  nature  dominates  con- 
sciousness, the  motion   is   concentric,    and   the 
weight  of  the  mass  is  thrown  upon  or  towards 
the  back  foot. 

III.  When  the  higher  moods  of  the  Emotive 
nature  dominate  consciousness,  there  is  equilib- 
rium or  poise  of  motion,  and  the  mass  is  dis- 
posed along  the  line  of  gravity,  and  is  thrown 
upon  the  middle  foot. 

(d.)  It  was  said  of  the  great  naturalist  Owens  that  by 
the  aid  of  the  fossil  bone  of  an  extinct  animal  he  could 
construct  the  entire  form  as  in  those  dim  ages  it  walked  the 
earth. 

And  it  was  through  a  like  power  of  inference  that  Lava" 
ter  said  :  "  Hide  the  man  all  but  his  feet,  and  I  will  dis- 
close him  to  you." 

Said  Bruyere:  "The  way  a  man  takes  his  hat  from  a 
peg  shall  make  him  known." 

We  give  a  series  of  nine  indications  of  the 
feet  as  showing  ruling  conditions  of  the  Being. 

I.  Feet  placed  a  little  apart  and  pointing 
directly  forwards  indicate  rusticity,  boorish- 
ness,  clownishness. 

(e.)  Let  the  student  take  these  positions  and  construct 
the  figures  *  that  the  positions  imply.  He  will  find  little 
difficulty  in  giving  some  color  of  reality  to  his  concepts. 

1  Art  is  constructive.     She  suits  her  forms  to  her  premeditated 


112  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

Such  is  the  unity  of  the  organism  that  inference  builds  a 
whole  from  a  part. 

Thus  in  the  figure  constructed  above  the  feet  as  placed 
in  our  first  example;  awkwardness  and  self-consciousness 
arising  from  the  Vital  nature  must  impose  awkward  form 
and  awkward  gestures ;  even  the  voice  will  reflect  awkward- 
ness by  its  coarse  quality  and  clumsy  articulations. 

And  why  not,  if  the  body  be  the  visible  and  actual  corre- 
spondence of  the  Soul  ? 

II.  Turn  one  or  both  feet  inwards,  and  the 
awkwardness  disappears. 

(f.)  This  position  will  be  instantly  recognized  as  "  out 
of  nature."     So  the  immediate  comment  is,  "  Here  is  phys 
ical  deformity."     And  our  sympathy  robs  the  indication  of 
awkwardness. 

Besides,  Nature  delights  in  her  "  Law  of  Compensation." 
And  she  almost  always  gives  brilliant  Mental  qualities  — 
though  not  so  uniformly  Emotive  qualities  —  to  her  club- 
footed  and  hunch-backed  children. 

In  the  old  Lyceum  days  no  one  thought  Henry  Giles 
awkward,  when  with  his  club-foot  he  stumped  about  the 
platform,  with  his  soul  aglow  as  he  discoursed  of  the  char- 
acters of  Shakespeare's  plays. 

III.  Feet  close  together,  knees  slightly  bent, 
indicate  want  of  assertion,  fear  of  giving  of- 
fence, self-distrust,  timidity. 

(g.)  The  different  phases  of  passion  shown  by  this  indi- 
cation have  been  in  all  ages  a  fruitful  mine  of  wealth  for 
dramatic  situations. 

and  selected  environment.  This  is  especially  true  of  Dramatic  Art. 
Thus  the  impossible  (in  nature)  stage  Yankee,  or  Englishman,  or 
Irishman,  is  suited  to  his  environment  of  canvas,  gas  light,  and  em- 
phasized scenic  effects.  So  the  highest  aim  and  effort  of  the  drama- 
tist is  to  construct,  out  of  a  thousand  examples  of  natural  display,  an 
art  display  in  which  a  vivid  sense  of  reality  may  pervade  the  crea- 
tion. 


STRUCTURE  AS  DETERMINING  ACTION.    113 

The  amount  of  "  business  "  that  an  ingenious  actor  will 
introduce  in  personating  the  timid,  distrustful  lover  is  some- 
thing wonderful. 

The  novelist  delights  in  such  representations  as  Mr. 
Toots,  in  Dombey  and  Son,  going  to  propose  to  Miss  Dom- 
bey ;  where  the  bashful  lover's  timidity  and  utter  self-dis- 
trust is  sketched  under  the  figure  of  continually  falling  into 
and  floundering  about  in  a  well. 

IV.  Feet  wide  apart,  weight  thrown  equally 
upon  both,  or  change  of  weight  from  one  to  the 
other,  indicate  pomposity,   bluster,   bragging, 
bravado  without  bravery. 

Add  motion,  and  we  have  strides,  swagger  of 
head  and  torso. 

Add  voice,  and  we  have  loud  and  blustering 
tones,  with  wide  slides  but  without  real  force. 

(A.)  We  need  only  refer  the  student  to  Shakespeare's 
great  creation  of  Falstaff.  It  is  impossible  to  read  the 
lines,  so  perfect  is  the  dramatic  unity,  without  constructing 
form,  action,  and  characteristics. 

V.  Feet     considerably     separated,     weight 
thrown    on   advanced  foot,   indicate   courage, 
earnestness,  eager  attention,  listening,  desire. 

VI.  Feet    considerably     separated,    weight 
thrown  on  retired  foot,  indicate  fear,  retreat, 
defence,  preparation  for  flight,  disgust,  horror. 

VII.  Frequent  changes  of  feet  indicate  psy- 
chic disturbance.     Light,  purposeless,  and  in- 
consequent movements  indicate  light,  purpose- 
less, and  inconsequent  moods. 

VIII.  Short,    tiptoe   steps  indicate   secrecy, 
caution.     Starting  from  the  base  indicates  sud- 


114  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

den  fright.     Stamping  indicates  harsh  author- 
ity. 

IX.  Feet  placed  in  accordance  with  Da  Vin- 
ci9 s  technical  rule  for  posing  statues  (see  page 
108),  body  drawn  upward  along  the  vertical 
line,    torso  advanced  and   slightly   expanded, 
indicate    that   some  grand  mood  is  dominat- 
ing consciousness,  such  as  a  love  of  justice, 
truth,  or  duty.     It  is  the  poise  of  the  outer  in- 
dicating the  highest  domination  of  the  Emotive 
nature. 

(i.)  This  disposition  of  the  agents  gives  the  grandest  ex- 
pression possible  to  man.  It  indicates  the  triumph  of  the 
Soul  over  all  opposing  forces. 

We  will  add  a  tenth  indication  as  the  antithesis  of  equi- 
librium or  poise  of  the  agents.  . 

X.  The  negation  of  expression,  the  language  of  vacuity. 

A  human  house  without  a  resident,  a  human  form  with- 
out rectitude.  Less  than  the  animal,  which  is  guided  by 
that  inflexible  reason  which  we  call  instinct.  Sad  text, 
comment,  and  illustration  of  our  theory,  that  the  exterior 
is  type  and  symbol  of  the  inner.  Here  all  the  agents  ex- 
press —  nothing  !  for  there  is  no  thing  to  express. 

What  Being  is  this  whose  indications  are  negation,  va- 
cuity, aberration,  semblance  merely  ? 

It  is  the  idiot.  The  vacant  gaze  of  matter  toward  the 
Spiritual ! 


CHAPTER  VIIL 

THE   TORSO   AND    ITS   EXPRESSIONS. 

THE  term  Torso  had  its  origin  in  the  fertile 
soil  of  Greek  art,  and  received  emphasis  from  the 
early  Italian  sculptors,  who  made  their  studies  of 
the  human  form  after  the  analyses  of  proportion 
and  symmetry  left  by  the  Greek  philosophers  and 
sculptors. 

The  root  word  from  which  we  derive  the  word 
torso  signifies  "  twisted,"  and  the  idea  doubtless 
arose  from  seeing  a  tree  stripped  of  its  limbs,  and 
standing,  gnarled  and  twisted,  a  headless  trunk. 

(a.)  In  theoretic  art  the  torso  is  composed  of  the  body 
without  head  or  limbs  ;  but  in  art  representations  a  part  of 
one  or  both  arms  (not  forearms)  usually  graces  the  other- 
wise inexpressive  trunk,  and  suggests  the  play  of  the 
shoulders. 

The  Expression  of  the  torso  as  a  division  of 
the  body  is  Emotive  ;  as  that  of  the  head  is 
Mental,  and  that  of  the  limbs  is  Vital.1 

(b.)  It  is  curious  that  a  similar  division  of  Outer  and  In- 
ner is  reflected  in  Greek  art. 

The  Greek  philosophers,  Aristotle  and  Plato,  taught  a  four- 
fold nature  of  man. 

1  This  is  Delsarte's  division,  as  reported  by  nearly  all  his  represen- 
tatives in  America.  Here,  as  elsewhere  in  our  treatise,  we  use  the 
term  Emotive,  instead  of  the  confusing  and  unphilosophic  term  Moral. 


116  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

1.  There  was  the  Inner  Essence,  or  Soul,  which  was  in- 
destructible. 

2.  The  Animal  Soul  (also  essence),  but  grosser  spirit, — 
the  instincts  and  passions,  as  in  the  brutes. 

3.  The  Physical  Nature  embodied.     An  inner  form  oi 
matter,  not  seen  by  the  eyes ;  sublimated  matter.    This  was 
the  direct  agent  between  the  soul  and  body. 

4.  The  Outer,  Visible,  and  Sensible  Body,  or  Phenome- 
non, composed  of  gross  matter. 

The  Greek  philosophers  made  the  head  the 
residence  of  the  pure  essence  or  Soul.  The  torso 
was  the  seat  of  the  grosser  spirit,  or  animal 
Soul.  The  upper  part  of  the  torso  — the  tho- 
rax—  was  the  seat  of  the  nobler  passions,  with 
the  heart  as  its  centre. 

The  lower  part  of  the  thorax  was  the  seat  of 
the  baser  passions,  while  the  abdomen  was  the 
residence  of  the  gross  appetites  and  sensual  pas- 
sions. 

And  this  philosophy  dominated  their  art 
forms. 

The  gods  of  the  Greek  were  idealized  types  of 
the  human  form. 

The  brow  of  Great  Jove  was  high,  broad,  and 
with  the  facial  angle  brought  forward.  The  fea- 
tures were  in  poise,  impassive  but  full  of  con- 
scious power.  The  head  was  an  outline  of  mas- 
sive strength.  Thus  the  Greek  concept  of  a  god 
was  an  apotheosis  of  the  Vital  and  Mental  natures 
of  man. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  face  and  brow  of  Apollo 
are  characteristically  human.  The  elements  that 


THE  TORSO  AND  ITS  EXPRESSIONS.       117 

marked  the  head  and  face  of  Jove  as  the  features 
of  a  god  are  modified  and  humanized.  The  facial 
angle  is  not  brought  so  far  forward,  the  features 
have  lost  their  massiveness,  and  the  impassive 
poise  has  given  way  to  suggestions  of  motion. 
It  is  the  Greek  concept  of  man.  Still  the  Vital 
and  Mental  predominate,  with  almost  no  trace  of 
the  higher  Emotive. 

Note,  in  the  form  of  the  gladiator,  the  embod- 
ied Vital  and  Mental  natures.  The  thorax,  full, 
deep,  and  well  set;  the  muscles  like  bands  of 
steel. 

Mark,  too,  the  animal  significance  of  the 
bloated  abdomen  and  bulging  thighs  of  Bacchus, 
and  the  half -human,  half -goat  forms  of  the 
Satyrs. 

(c.)  The  Greeks  were  constantly  solicited  to  the  study  of 
art,  especially  of  form  and  motion,  by  the  most  suggestive  and 
picturesque  aspects  of  Nature,  and  by  the  most  perfect  types 
of  the  human  form,  always  present  to  them,  and  moving 
with  a  freedom  and  grace  unknown  to  modern  times.  So 
the  Greek  analyses  of  proportion  and  form,  more  especially 
as  illustrated  in  architecture  and  sculpture,  must  long  con- 
tinue to  rule  in  the  realm  of  Art.  It  would  seem  the  part 
of  wisdom  to  accept  the  keen  insight  and  prophecy  of  the 
most  advanced  race  —  certainly  the  most  advanced  in  art  — 
that  has  yet  appeared  upon  the  earth. 

So,  if  we  discover  in  the  physiognomists  Lavater,  Alex. 
Walker,  Redfield,  Huatt,  or  with  the  art  writers  Winckel- 
mann,  Liibke,  Ruskin,  or  such  illustrators  as  Hogarth  and 
Dore,  or  such  teachers  of  Expression  as  Rimmer  and  Del- 
sarte,1  an  intimate  sympathy  with  Greek  ideas,  when  con- 

1  A  fragment  left  by  Delsarte,  and  entitled  Episodes  in  the  Life  of 


118  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

fronted  with  the  problem  of  human  expression  as  a  result  of 
the  mysterious  union  of  spirit  and  matter,  we  may  recall  with 
a  definite  satisfaction  the  utterance  of  Paul,  the  great  apostle 
of  Christianity,  that 

There  is  a  natural  body, 
And  there  is  a  spiritual  body. 

The  torso  is  centre  of  the  body,  and  its  centre, 
the  heart,  is  popularly  considered  the  centre  of 
the  Affections  and  deeper  Emotions. 

(d.)  It  is  not  without  reason  that  we  speak  of  the  heart 
as  centre  of  our  deepest  Emotions.  While  as  a  physical  or- 
gan it  is  insensible  to  the  touch,  it  is  so  connected  with  the 
nervous  system  that  all  our  intense  physical  pains  or  pleas- 
ures increase  its  action. 

Intense  psychic  states  find  immediate  response  in  the  vio- 
lent beating  of  the  heart,  and  seem  to  our  consciousness  to 
locate  themselves  in  the  organ  itself. 

We  cannot  set  aside  this  popular  verdict.  Such  phrases 
as  "it  will  break  my  heart,"  "my  heart  leaped  into  my 
mouth,"  or  Shakespeare's  reference  to  Caesar,  "  then  burst 
his  mighty  heart,"  show  the  strength  of  the  popular  belief 
that  the  heart  is  the  centre  of  the  Emotive  Being. 

a  Eevelator,  is  a  most  convincing  evidence  of  his  methods  of  study. 
The  persistency  with  which  he  observed,  and  the  power  of  analysis 
which  he  brought  to  bear  upon  all  psychic  phenomena  show  conclu- 
sively that  he  adopted  what  is  now  known  as  "  the  scientific  method." 
His  laws  were  deductions  from  observed  phenomena.  In  this  rests  their 
value.  How  it  is  expressed  always  preceded  the  why  with  him. 

So  his  statements  seem  empirical  and  often  fanciful.  Thus,  in  stat- 
ing how  two  persons  look  at  a  picture,  he  says  (p.  82,  Delsarte  System, 
Werner,  Albany,  N.  Y.)  :  — 

"When  a  painter  examines  his  work  he  moves  away  from  it  per- 
ceptibly. 

"  The  picture  dealer  examines  it  closely,  and  with  a  magnifying, 
glass  in  hand ;  but  this  direct  vision  is  a  short  and  limited  vision. 

"The  painter,  by  moving  away,  seizes,  by  synthetic  vision,  the  Aon 
monious  proportions  of  his  work." 


THE  TORSO  AND  ITS  EXPRESSIONS.       119 

In  Expression,  we  divide  the  torso  into  three 
zones,  —  the  Upper,  Middle,  and  Lower. 

These  zones  indicate  through  form  and  mo- 
tion the  state  of  Being  ruling  in  consciousness. 
They  are  also  points  of  arrival  or  departure  for 
gestures  of  the  hand  and  arm.  Let  us  consider 
the  language  of  each  zone. 

II.  The  upper  torso  contains  the  lungs,  the 
organ  of  our  breath,  as  the  heart  is  of  our 
blood. 

Gestures  directed  towards,  or  from,  this  cen- 
tre disclose  the  Mental  nature  as  ruling. 

(e.)  It  will  be  noticed,  as  bearing  upon  Expression,  that 
while  the  action  of  the  heart  is  not  in  the  least  degree  con- 
trolled by  the  will,  our  breathing  can  be  instantly  controlled. 
But  the  acute  physical  distress  that  follows  too  long  a  reten- 
tion of  the  breath  —  the  sensation  of  stifling  —  is  one  of  the 
most  terrible  of  our  experiences. 

It  will  be  readily  seen  that  this  control  of  the  act  of  breath- 
ing allies  in-breathing  and  out-breathing  with  the  Mental 
nature,  as  the  loss  of  all  control  over  the  action  of  the  heart 
allies  its  motions  with  the  Emotive  nature.  So  the  objective 
fact  that  we  can  control  the  action  of  the  lungs  corresponds 
with  the  subjective  fact  that  our  controlled  states  show  them- 
selves through  form  and  motion  of  the  upper  torso. 

So  our  breathing  becomes  a  representative  phenomenon. 
It  is  to  our  action  what  words  are  to  our  thought.  If  we 
hear  the  breathing  we  know  the  character  of  the  act. 

These  considerations  make  credible  the  affirmations  of 
Garth  Wilkinson,  "  that  our  Mental  nature  walks  up  and 
down  through  the  arches  of  our  respiration,"  and  that 
"every  man  requires  to  educate  his  breath  for  his  busi- 
ness." 

III.  The  middle   torso  is   the  zone  of  the 


120  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

Emotive  nature.     It  is  the  seat  of  the  affections 
and  higher  emotions. 

Gestures  towards  or  from  this  centre  disclose 
the  Emotive  nature  as  ruling. 

(/.)  We  have  already  stated,  in  paragraph  (cT),  our  rea- 
sons for  making  the  middle  zone  of  the  torso  the  seat  of 
the  Emotive  nature.  So  fixed  is  the  correspondence  in 
human  nature  that  any  other  conclusion  would  be  nega- 
tived by  the  gestures  of  all  races  of  men  upon  the  earth. 

I.  The  lower  torso  is  the  zone  of  the  Vital 
nature.  It  is  the  seat  of  the  appetites  and 
lower  passions. 

Gestures  towards  or  from  this  centre  disclose 
the  Vital  nature  as  ruling. 

(g.)  We  have  the  same  popular  conviction  that  the  ab- 
domen is  the  seat  of  the  grosser  appetites  and  baser  pas- 
sions that  sustains  the  idea  that  the  heart  is  the  seat  of  the 
affections  and  higher  emotions. 

Here  are  the  stomach  and  other  organs  of  digestion.  And 
the  same  reasoning  upon  the  objective  facts  of  structure  and 
function  that  brought  us  to  conclude  that  the  middle  torso 
is  the  zone  of  the  Emotive  nature  drives  us  to  the  conclu- 
sion that  the  lower  torso  is  the  zone  of  the  Vital  nature. 
Said  Broussais  :  "  The  passions  are  the  triumph  of  the  vis- 
cera over  the  brain." 

It  is  not  necessary  to  locate  a  residence  for  a 
state  of  Being  in  any  place  or  in  any  organ  of 
the  body.  But  we  can  with  confidence  assert 
—  and  ordinary  observation  will  convince  any 
one  who  may  doubt  —  that  certain  states  of  the 
Being  manifest  themselves,  and  seem  to  do  so 
by  preference,  through  certain  divisions  or  zones 
of  the  human  territory. 


THE  TORSO  AND  ITS  EXPRESSIONS.       121 

This  idea  accredited  to  Delsarte  will  be  found  to 
form  the  basis  of  the  system  of  physiognomy  of  Lavater. 
We  quote  that  profound  observer  :  — 

"  These  three  states  of  the  Soul  do  not  lodge  in  separate 
apartments  of  the  body,  but  coexist  in  every  point,  and 
form  by  their  combination  one  whole.  Yet  it  is  true  that 
each  of  these  principles  has  its  peculiar  place  of  residence 
in  the  body,  where  it  in  preference  manifests  and  exerts 
itself." 

In  view  of  the  fact  of  a  general  uniformity 
of  Expression  through  these  zones,  common  to 
all  races  and  to  all  individuals  of  any  race,  as 
well  as  the  fact  that,  through  correspondence, 
these  zones  are  made  points  of  arrival  and  de- 
parture for  a  great  number  of  gestures  of  the 
hand  and  arm,  the  author  feels  justified  in  the 
conclusions  arrived  at,  which  we  will  put  into 
three  propositions. 

I.  We  may  say,  speaking  broadly,  that  the 
torso  as  a  whole  manifests  the  Emotive  state 
of  the  Being. 

II.  Each  of  the  three  states  of  the  Being 
manifests  itself,  as  if  by  preference,  through  a 
special  division  or  zone  of  the  torso. 

III.  Each  zone  speaks  its  own  language,  and 
not  the  language  of  another. 

(i.)  To  the  student  who  accepts  the  formidable  array  of 
facts,  marshaled  in  such  logical  order  by  Darwin  in  his 
great  work  upon  "  The  Expression  of  the  Emotions  in  Man 
and  Animals ;  "  or  who  has  weighed  the  convincing  testi- 
mony of  Mantegazza,  an  eye-witness,  who  has  made  the 
globe  his  quarry  for  data  of  human  expression,  —  to  such  a 
student  it  will  seem  entirely  probaole  that  the  great  body 


122  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

*  of  gestures  now  used  by  us  to  express  psychic  states  were 
once  of  use  to  our  remote  ancestors,  in  the  struggle  of  the 
survival  of  the  fittest. 

Another  great  source  of  our  expressions,  undoubtedly,  is 
to  be  found  in  the  reasonings  upon  natural  phenomena  pre- 
sented to  the  undeveloped  minds  of  primitive  men.  Thus, 
primitive  man  saw  that  when  the  breath  was  out  the  man 
died.  So  the  breath  was  thought  to  be  the  Soul.  He  saw 
the  thorax  heave  in  the  last  efforts  of  life  to  maintain  its 
hold  upon  the  body,  and  when  motion  ceased,  and  all 
was  still,  the  alarming  thought  came  to  him  that  the  man 
within  the  body  had  gone  out  from  his  residence.  And  this 
was  fair  reasoning  from  the  data  presented  to  his  undevel- 
oped mind.  He  pushed  inference  one  step  further.  "  He 
will  return,"  he  said,  "and  be  hungry;"  so  he  put  food 
upon  the  hearth-stone,  and  waited  with  a  weary  and  pa- 
thetic patience. 

So,  too,  it  was  quite  in  the  line  of  fair  inference  that  the 
heart,  with  its  warmth  of  red  blood  and  stir  of  life  in  its 
rhythmical  pulsations,  should  be  considered  the  residence  of 
the  warm  feelings  and  generous  passions.  The  affections 
—  judging  from  outward  manifestations  —  seemed  to  dwell 
in  the  heart. 

The  grosser  offices  and  functions  of  the  stomach  and  vis- 
ceral organs  connected  with  digestion  suggested  that  the 
vulgar  appetites  and  coarse  feelings  made  this  zone  the  seat 
of  their  activities.  They  were  often  personified,  and  dwelt 
like  real  beings  in  this  lower  zone  of  the  torso. 

And  with  ourselves  of  this  age  and  time,  these  crude  and 
objective  ideas  have  become  subjectively  refined  and  won- 
derfully expressive ;  and  through  correspondence  and  anal- 
ogy, through  heredity  and  life  experience,  we  emphasize 
and  repeat  our  states  of  feeling  by  gestures  directed  to  or 
from  these  zones. 

What  wonder  that  language,  getting  its  greatest  strength 
and  vigor  from  objective  sources,  and  never  so  strong  and 
vigorous  as  when  it  can  hold  before  the  mind's  eye  the 


THE  TORSO  AND  ITS  EXPRESSIONS.       123 

form  and  motion  of  the  actual  object,  delights  to  perpetuate 
these  correspondences  ? 

The  student  may  well  ask,  with  all  sorts  of  confident  sup- 
port "  in  the  nature  of  things,"  "  Does  all  Expression  rest 
in  Correspondence  ?  "  And  can  we  not  confidently  say  that 
the  sensations  of  the  heart,  lungs,  and  viscera,  which  are 
the  seat  of  our  greatest  physical  pains  and  pleasures,  are 
reflected  subjectively  in  voice,  gesture,  and  speech  ? 

We  find  space  for  two  illustrations  of  the  ex- 
pression of  the  three  states  of  the  Being  through 
the  three  zones  of  the  torso.  In  our  first  illus- 
tration the  gestures  are  directed  towards  or  from 
the  Mental  and  Emotive  zones. 

Our  first  illustration  is  from  Shakespeare's 
Henry  V.,  Act  II.  Scene  2. 

The  King  has  discovered  the  conspiracy  of 
Cambridge,  Scroop  and  Grey. 

Let  the  student  recall  the  order  of  action  of 
the  threefold  Being.  In  psychic  action  the  Men- 
tal  guides,  the  Emotive  impels,  the  Vital  sus- 
tains. 

Now,  let  us  apply  this  order  of  action  to  the 
lines  which  we  quote  on  the  next  page. 

The  Mental  takes  note  of  existing  relations, 
as  of  king  and  people,  notes  consequences  to 
the  state,  duty  of  king  as  judicial  head,  dignity 
of  king  as  representative  head,  the  enormity  of 
the  crime,  the  punishment  due,  etc. 

The  Emotive  gathers  its  strength  from  the 
instinctive  and  animal  roots  of  the  Vital  na- 
ture. It  becomes  impulse  to  the  severity  of  jus- 
tice. As  affection  it  will  temper  justice  with 


124  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

mercy.  This  outflow  of  feeling  invading  the 
Mental  nature  will  give  rise  to  that  sense  of 
right  and  wrong  which  in  man  has  become  or- 
ganized as  conscience. 

The  Vital  sustains  all  and  urges  action.  The 
simplest  organism,  as  the  monera  or  other  pro- 
tozoan, is  always  composed  of  centre,  in  which  re- 
sides life,  and  near  environment  or  body,  which 
is  controlled  by  its  centre.  This  life  element  in 
man  is  at  the  foundation  of  the  psychic  struc- 
ture. 

"  K.  Hen.  God  quit  you  in  his  mercy !     Hear  your  sentence. 
You  have  conspired  against  our  royal  person, 
Join'cl  with  an  enemy  proclaim' d,  and  from  his  coffers 
Keceiv'd  the  golden  earnest  of  our  death." 

Gesture  of  hand  and  arm  towards  the  upper 
torso  upon  the  words  "  our  royal  person." 

Gesture  of  hand  and  arm  towards  the  middle 
torso  upon  the  words  "  golden  earnest  of  our 
death." 

Here  the  state  of  Being  is  the  higher  Emotive 
as  ruling.  The  mode  of  motion  is  poise  for  the 
whole  body,  concentric  for  hand  and  arm,  eccen- 
tric for  torso. 

Take  a  second  illustration.  The  comment  of 
the  three  natures  upon  a  glass  of  wine. 

The  Emoto-Mental  would  hold  up  the  glass; 
look  at  the  color  and  transparency ;  note  the 
stir ;  move  the  glass  to  and  fro  under  the  nose  ; 
make  placid  the  features  ;  close  gently  the  eyes ; 
smack  the  lips  with  scarcely  audible  sound  ;  talk 


THE  TORSO  AND  ITS  EXPRESSIONS.        125 

and  taste,  taste  and  talk  about  vintage,  age,  an- 
cestry ;  call  it  "  rare  old  Burgundy  or  royal 
Tokay ; "  sip,  taste,  and  talk,  and  talk  again  in 
endless  disquisition. 

The  Vital  is  entirely  straightforward  in  its 
manifestations.  It  takes  a  tankard  in  place  of 
the  glass,  and  the  malt  delight  of  Gambrinus 
in  place  of  wine.  Round  and  round,  with  half- 
closed  eyes,  it  stirs  the  foaming  beverage. 
There  is  little  time  wasted  in  sesthetic  observa- 
tion of  color  or  motion  or  bouquet ;  tasting  loses 
its  finesse  in  hearty  deglutition.  So  the  Vital 
drinks  for  the  stomach  instead  of  the  palate ; 
stirs  the  tankard  in  Falstaffian  rhythm;  drinks 
'*  with  windy  suspiration  ;  "  smacks  the  lips  ; 
strikes  with  both  hands  the  abdomen ;  shows 
satisfaction  in  inarticulate  and  sometimes  porcine 
sounds. 

In  noting  the  expressions  of  the  torso  through 
form  and  motion,  let  us  recall  the  three  divisions 
which  include  all  gestures,  and  which  the  student 
will  find  discussed  at  length  under  the  Law  of 
the  Personality  :  — 

1.  Bearings  refer  to  carriage  or  mien.     They 
are   the   result    of   heredity,   or   long-continued 
habit.     They  are  permanent,  and  indicate  char- 
acter. 

We  grow  insensibly  into  bearings. 

2.  Attitudes  are  arrests  of  motion.     They  are 
comparatively  passive,  and  show  that  some  par* 
ticular  mood  is  dominating  consciousness. 


126  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

We  put  ourselves  into  attitudes. 

3.  Inflections  are  fugitive,  instant,  or  present 
forms  of  gesture.  It  is  the  mood  now  ruling  that 
they  express. 

We  are  only  semi-conscious  of  our  inflec- 
tions. 

So  it  will  appear  that  an  inflection  may  show 
at  any  moment  through  the  exterior.  One  can 
throw  himself  into  an  attitude.  He  can  fix  him- 
self in  a  posture.  His  bearing,  or  mien,  comes 
through  repetition  of  action,  —  his  own  or  that 
of  his  ancestors.  The  form  and  motion  of  the 
torso,  then,  will  disclose  the  state  of  the  Being 
dominating  consciousness. 

We  give  a  series  of  three  attitudes  of  the  torso, 
and  ask  the  student  to  carefully  consider  their 
language  :  — 

(1.)  Expansion  :  Here  both  the  form  and  mo- 
tion indicate  different  degrees  of  vitality,  power, 
courage,  vehemence.  The  Will  active. 

(2.)  Contraction:  Both  form  and  motion  in- 
dicate different  degrees  of  struggle,  effort,  pain., 
convulsion.  The  Will  spasmodic. 

(3.)  Relaxation :  Both  form  and  motion  indi- 
cate different  degrees  of  want  of  vitality,  indo- 
lence, prostration.  The  Will  inactive. 

We  give  a  series  of  three  Inflections  of  the 
Torso  :  — 

(1.)  Movement  up  and  doicn  in  a  vertical 
line  indicates :  Despair  of  the  weak,  distracted 
grief,  loss  of  courage  and  hope. 


THE  TORSO  AND  ITS  EXPRESSIONS.       127 

If  the  voice  is  used  it  takes  the  minor  key,  — • 
through  all  animal  life  the  symbol  of  pain. 

(2.)  Side  to  side  movement  indicates :  Happy 
innocence,  joyousness,  carelessness,  thoughtless- 
ness of  childhood. 

If  the  voice  is  used  it  takes  the  major  key,  — 
through  all  animal  life  the  symbol  of  pleasure. 

(3.)  Twisting  movements  indicate:  Childish 
impatience  of  all  degrees. 

If  the  voice  is  used  it  takes  the  form  of  the 
vanishing  stress. 

(e.)  It  will  be  noticed  that  these  gestures  are  correspond- 
encies of  bodies  in  unstable  equilibrium.  Thus,  physically, 
rocking  up  and  down  is  a  giving  up  of  poise,  and  regaining 
it  only  to  give  it  up  again.  What  could  better  type  despair 
than  this  loss  of  bodily  control  ? 

In  rocking  from  side  to  side  all  the  large  muscles  assist  to 
balance  the  body. 

In  the  side  to  side  movement  of  joyousness  there  is  the 
element  of  control  and  an  example  of  rhythm ;  the  body  we 
know  is  in  no  danger  of  falling.  It  is  dancing  with  rhythm. 
How  admirably  it  types  the  free  joyousness  of  the  child's 
nature ! 

The  "  twisting  movement "  adds  abruptness  to  slight  in- 
stability, and  shows  that  the  disturbance  of  equilibrium  is 
slight.  This  gesture  visibly  types  irritability.  And  the  van- 
ishing stress  of  the  voice  in  complaint  gives  an  audible  sym- 
bol of  instability. 

We  give  a  series  of  six  attitudes  of  the  torso, 
showing  the  relation  of  subject  and  object :  — 

(1.)  Leaning  directly  towards  the  object  of 
desire  indicates  :  Vital  attraction. 

(2.)  Leaning  obliquely  towards  the  object  of 


128  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

desire  indicates  :  Attraction  based  on  a  recogni- 
tion of  the  higher  Mental  and  Emotive  quali- 
ties. 

(3.)  Leaning  directly  from  the  object  indi- 
cates :  Vital  aversion  or  repulsion. 

(4.)  Leaning  obliquely  from  the  object  indi- 
cates :  Emotive  aversion  or  repulsion. 

(5.)  Bowing  directly  before  the  object  indi- 
cates :  Superstitious  reverence  and  worship. 

(6.)  Bowing  obliquely  before  the  object  indi- 
cates :  Rational  reverence  and  worship. 


CHAPTEE  IX. 

THE    HEAD    AND    ITS    EXPRESSIONS. 

THE  naturalist  Oken,  walking  one  day  in  a 
forest,  came  suddenly  upon  the  bleached  skull 
of  a  deer. 

Holding  the  skull  in  his  hand,  he  was  exam- 
ining, in  a  meditative  mood,  its  anatomical  fea- 
tures, when  there  flashed  into  his  mind  an  iden- 
tity of  structure  that  had  never  before  struck 
him. 

"  This  skull,"  he  said,  "  is  the  four  upper  ver- 
tebrae of  the  back-bone,  arrested,  distorted,  fash- 
ioned into  plates,  and  put  into  spherical  form, 
differentiated  for  a  purpose." ] 

Now,  what  seemed  fanciful  in  Oken  and 
Goethe  agrees  with  modern  research;  that  of 
Owen,  and  later  of  Broca,  the  most  eminent  of 
French  anthropologists. 

The  eight  bones  that  form  the  human  skull, 
and  the  fourteen  bones  that  make  the  structure 
of  the  face,  are  the  four  upper  vertebra  of  the 
spinal  column,  differentiated  from  the  structural 

1  It  is  a  little  curious  that  Goethe  discovered  this  identity  at  about 
the  same  time.  Eras  of  discovery  are  atmospheric.  When  all  the 
occult  conditions  are  fulfilled  the  discovery  is  made. 

9 


130  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

type  common  to  all  land  mammals,  to  serve  most 
important  ends  in  man's  slow  advance  from  sav- 
age to  civilized  conditions. 

Indeed,  to  fit  man,  —  not  alone  to  rule  all  other 
forms  of  life  upon  the  earth,  —  but  to  make  any 
advance  possible,  the  nerve  substance  must  be 
concentrated,  localized,  expanded,  and  protected. 

The  intent  of  Nature  was  made  apparent  in 
structure,  when  the  four  upper  vertebrae  were 
differentiated  into  four  enlargements  or  seg- 
ments to  localize,  hold,  and  protect  the  brain 
substance. 

These  segments  of  bone,  thus  expanded  as 
arcs  and  united  to  form  the  skull,  are  known  as 
the  occipital,  parietal,  frontal,  and  nasal  seg- 
ments. 

The  fourteen  bones  of  the  face  form  cavities 
in  which  rest  the  sense  organs,  or  they  project 
rough  points  for  the  attachment  of  muscles. 

(a.)  In  this  spheroidal  form  of  the  skull  there  is  to  the 
philosophic  mind  abundant  promise  and  prophecy  arising 
from  analogy  and  correspondence. 

A  wider  vision  than  ours  would  be  able  to  plainly  see  the 
unity  of  the  material  and  spiritual. 

So  we  may  without  violence  imagine  a  being  from  an- 
other sphere,  —  an  older  world  than  ours,  —  with  higher  ra- 
tional and  intuitive  powers,  examining  a  human  skull. 

He  would  say :  "  This  being  who  bore  upon  an  upright 
column  this  globe  form  was  easily  enough  the  ruler  of  the 
earth,  and  bridged  the  chasm  between  the  animal  and  the 
rational  soul." 

Let  us  examine  the  human  structure  and  mark 
its  points  of  superiority  :  — 


THE  HEAD  AND  ITS  EXPRESSIONS.         131 

.  All  vertebrates,  from  lowest  to  highest, 
through  the  whole  chain  of  fish,  reptile,  bird, 
and  beast,  are  built  upon  the  same  general  plan. 
The  structural  type  is  permanent. 

This  is  the  general  plan  of  a  vertebrate  struc- 
ture:— 

(1.)  A  column  of  jointed  segments  or  bones. 

(2.)  A  line  or  thread  of  nerve  substance  en- 
closed within  this  column. 

(3.)  Certain  arcs  thrown  out  from  the  central 
axis  of  the  column  to  hold  the  life  organs. 

(4=)  Certain  lines,  levers  or  shafts,  four  in 
number,  disposed  in  pairs,  and  projected  from 
the  axis  of  the  column  to  form  organs  of  loco- 
motion or  prehension. 

(5.)  And  finally,  a  nervous  system,  separated 
from  the  body  cavity,  with  its  centre  located  in 
the  head. 

This  is  Nature's  general  plan  of  vertebrate 
structure.  It  is  in  points  of  differentiation  from 
the  structural  type  that  we  find  the  key  to  man's 
supremacy. 

Let  us  state  the  points  of  structural  differen- 
tiation :  — 

(1.)  Man  stands  vertically  poised  upon  two 
shafts.  He  thus  escapes  the  undue  thraldom 
imposed  by  gravity  upon  the  other  land  mam- 
mals who  are  tied  to  earth  by  four  shafts. 

This  is  the  key  to  his  superiority  and  the  visi- 
ble sign  of  his  liberation. 

Two  limbs  are  now  free,  and  the  face  is  ver* 
tical  to  the  line  of  the  horizon. 


132  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

The  sense  organs  are  grouped  in  close  connec- 
tion with  the  great  central  organ  of  conscious- 
ness —  the  brain. 

(2.)  Man  has,  in  proportion  to  size  and  weight, 
three  or  four  times  more  brain,  three  or  four  times 
more  thinking  matter,  than  any  other  of  the  large 
land  mammals. 

(3.)  This  thinking  matter  is  convoluted.  Like 
leaves  or  plates,  the  white  and  gray  matter  lies 
in  the  brain-case  in  folds  or  furrows,  the  gray 
cortex  covering  the  white  and  dipping  down  into 
the  folds. 

A  brain  of  few  folds  is  dull  and  unintelligent. 
There  seems  to  be  an  unexplained  correspond- 
ence between  the  number,  form,  and  disposition 
of  the  convolutions  and  the  amount  of  intelli- 
gence. 

(b.)  Modern  research  abundantly  fortifies  these  conclu- 
sions. Said  Broca :  "  Simple  convolutions,  developed  unin- 
terruptedly, and  alike  in  both  hemispheres,  are  character- 
istic, in  both  man  and  other  mammals,  of  inferiority." 

And  John  Fiske :  "  The  amount  of  intelligence  is  corre- 
lated with  the  number,  depth,  and  irregularity  of  the  fur- 
rows. In  the  brain  of  a  great  scholar  the  furrows  are  very 
deep  and  crooked,  and  hundreds  of  creases  appear  which 
are  not  found  at  all  in  the  brain  of  ordinary  men." 

(4.)  And  finally,  to  mark  man's  preeminence 
among  his  congeners,  there  is  in  his  brain  a  lo- 
calized seat  for  the  faculty  of  language. 

This  faculty,  according  to  Broca,  has  its  resi- 
dence in  a  very  small  division  of  the  cerebral 
hemispheres,  particularly  of  the  left  hemisphera 


THE  HEAD  AND  ITS  EXPRESSIONS.        133 

Its  location  is  upon  the  superior  portion  of  the 
fissure  of  Sylvius,  and  it  occupies  the  posterior 
half  or  third  of  the  third  frontal  convolution. 

If  this  part  of  the  brain  is  seriously  injured, 
the  man  can  understand  but  cannot  articulate. 

(c.)  It  would  seem  evident  that  the  being  having  these 
advajitages  of  structure  would  outstrip  the  other  mammalia 
through  the  evolution  of  the  knowing  faculties. 

He  alone  of  all  the  beings  upon  earth  would  seek  to  com- 
prehend the  relations  of  things  about  him.  He  alone  would 
question  the  why,  whence,  or  where  of  his  existence  or  des- 
tiny, or  form  any  conception  of  the  vastness  of  such  sub- 
sistences as  Time,  Space,  Force,  Spirit,  God. 

The  anthropoids  nearest  him  in  structure  have  never 
known  even  how  to  use  a  staff,  or  build  a  fence,  or  plant  a 
kernel  of  corn,  or  kindle  a  fire,  or  make  a  dwelling  that  can 
be  dignified  by  any  higher  name  than  "  a  nest "  —  the  name 
given  by  Livingstone  to  the  tree  shelters  of  the  Soko  of 
Central  Africa. 

All  the  evidences  of  structure,  function,  and  adaptability 
show  that  man's  future  advance  lies  along  the  lines  of  Men- 
tal and  Spiritual  progress ;  the  emphasized  Vital  has  al- 
ready dropped  out  of  the  American  and  English  Saxon. 
The  type  of  our  ancestry  has  greatly  changed.  Ten  or 
twelve  centuries  ago,  rooted  near  the  earth  in  the  Vital,  our 
ancestors  fought  like  tigers,  tooth  and  nail,  —  got  their  name 
"  Saxon  "  from  the  sword  with  which  at  a  short  arm's  length 
they  hacked  and  hewed  their  foes.  They  boasted  that  their 
ancestors  drank  blood  out  of  human  skulls.  They  were 
frightful  gluttons  and  drunkards. 

So  the  type  of  men  who  followed  "Wallace  and  Bruce,  or 
fought  with  main  strength  at  Marston  Moor,  would  be  of 
little  service  in  modern  warfare,  where  the  profound  strategy 
of  military  science  is  complemented  by  the  terrible  enginery 
of  ironclads  on  the  sea  and  Gatling  guns  on  land. 

At  the  commencement  of  the  struggle  for  life  man  is  the 


134  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

most  helpless  and  defenceless  of  animals.  "Naked  and 
without  weapons  "  is  Linnaeus'  description  of  him. 

As  the  babe  of  the  nineteenth  century  lies  in  the  cradle,  it 
holds  in  its  little  hands  the  ancestral  threads  of  the  race. 
And  it  is  soon  made  evident  that  the  differentiation  is  to- 
ward physical  weakness,  and  toward  mental  and  moral 
strength. 

The  savage  Vital  has  almost  died  out  of  modern  man. 
The  keen  edge  of  the  senses  that  serve  the  animal  nature  is 
blunted.  His  limbs  have  lost  their  greatest  activity.  The 
horse  and  deer  easily  outrun  him.  The  dog  develops  a  keener 
scent.  The  eagle's  vision  is  further  reaching. 

Ah !  with  feeble  limbs  to  pursue,  feeble  hands  to  seize, 
feeble  teeth  to  tear,  it  is  evident  that  the  Vital  nature  must 
be  complemented  by  other  appliances.  So  he  fits  new  lenses 
to  the  eye,  and  counts  a  million  of  stars  in  the  golden  belt 
of  the  Milky  Way  where  the  Greek  saw  only  the  glittering 
pathway  of  the  gods.  He  hears  with  the  new  ear  of  Bell  or 
Dolbear.  He  binds  the  wings  of  Mercury  to  the  locomotive, 
and  adds  to  his  speed.  And,  finally,  he  annihilates  space, 
and  beats  Old  Chronos  himself  by  sending  a  message  from 
London  at  noon  to  be  read  in  Boston  or  New  York  while 
it  is  yet  morning. 

We  may  study  the  head  and  its  expressions 
from  two  points  of  view  :  — 

(1.)  Through  that  which  is  fixed  and  perma- 
nent, and  which  presents  outline  and  form. 

(2.)  Through  the  play  of  the  muscles  under 
nervous  stimulus. 

The  fixed  and  permanent  expressions  of  the 
head  are  the  result  of  structure. 

So  cranioscopy  is  an  open  comment  upon  race, 
heredity,  and  habit. 

And  no  object  presents  more  subtle  and  perti- 
nent correspondences  than  those  prefigured  by 


THE  HEAD  AND  ITS  EXPRESSIONS.         135 

this  aggregation  of  lime  crystals  fashioned  into 
spherical  form. 

(d.)  What  a  text  for  the  moralist  is  this  hideous  colloca- 
tion of  bones  —  an  unclothed  skull ! 

The  marvelous  organs  of  sense,  the  complex  network  of 
muscles,  veins,  nerves,  tissues,  and  skin  have  fallen  off,  and 
long  ago  resolved  themselves  into  dust.  The  color,  the  mov- 
ing lights  and  shadows  have  vanished.  Fortunate  if  this 
hollow  void  and  emptiness  can  revive  memories  of  the  illu- 
minated face,  pulsing  with  life  and  aglow  with  passion ! 

"First  Clo.    This  same  skull,  sir,  was  Yorick's  skull,  the  King's 


"Ham.    This? 

"First  Clo.    E'en  that. 

"Ham.  Let  me  see.  Alas,  poor  Yoriekl  I  knew  Mm,  Horatio: 
a  fellow  of  infinite  jest,  of  most  excellent  fancy:  he  hath  borne  me  on 
his  back  a  thousand  times ;  and  now,  how  abhorred  my  imagination 
is!  my  gorge  rises  at  it.  Here  hung  those  lips  that  I  have  kiss'd  I 
know  not  how  oft.  Where  be  your  gibes  now  ?  your  gambols  ?  your 
songs  ?  your  flashes  of  merriment,  that  were  wont  to  set  the  table  on 
a  roar  ?  Not  one  now,  to  mock  your  own  grinning  ?  quite  chap-fallen  ? 
Now  get  you  to  my  lady's  chamber,  and  tell  her,  let  her  paint  an  inch 
thick,  to  this  favour  she  must  come  ;  make  her  laugh  at  that." 

In  considering  the  fixed  and  permanent  ex- 
pressions of  the  head,  we  may  say  that  there  is  a 
pretty  general  agreement  among  those  who  have 
given  much  thought  to  the  subject,  that  certain 
points  of  structure  are  indications  of  the  predom- 
inance of  one  or  another  of  the  three  states  of 
the  Being. 

Without  any  attempt  to  exhaust  the  subject, 
let  us  generalize  a  few  principles  based  upon 
structure :  — 

(1.)  Among  all  mammals,  the  advance  of  the 
lines  of  the  head  toward  the  vertical  is  the  meas- 
ure of  psychic  advance. 


136  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

The  student  can  test  this  law  by  sketching  hu- 
man heads,  where  the  forehead,  nose,  and  chin, 
each  in  turn,  are  made  to  depart  from  the  ver- 
tical. 

He  will  find  all  forms  of  animal  expression  to 
rest  in  the  proportions  thus  sketched.  An  exam- 
ination of  classic  heads  in  an  art  museum,  or  of 
engravings  of  Greek  sculpture,  will  verify  our 
proposition. 

(«.)  Camper's  facial  angle  has  long  ruled  in  the  world  of 
art  as  a  measure  of  the  amount  of  intelligence  shown  through 
the  structure  of  the  skull.  His  method  of  determining  the 
angle  was  to  trace  a  skull,  draw  a  horizontal  line,  which 
should  pass  through  the  ball  of  the  ear  and  the  sockets  of 
the  front  teeth.  Upon  this  horizontal  line  raise  a  vertical 
line,  touching  the  teeth  and  the  most  prominent  point  of  the 
frontal  bone. 

This  idea,  it  is  said,  was  suggested  to  Camper  while  exam- 
ining some  antique  gems. 

He  observed  that  there  was  a  great  gain  in  intellectual 
expression  when  the  line  that  touched  the  forehead  and 
teeth  was  nearly  vertical.  This  he  conceived  to  be  the  key 
to  the  antique  head.  As  the  line  fell  from  the  vertical,  the 
head  and  face  lost  majesty  and  dignity  of  expression.  An 
angle  of  70°  gave  the  head  of  a  negro ;  of  60°,  an  orang- 
outang ;  and  so  on  downwards. 

A  broader  generalization  will  be  accepted  by 
the  student  of  evolution. 

(2.)  Brain  development  in  man  has  been  con- 
stantly progressive,  while  with  the  other  mam- 
malia  it  has  remained  comparatively  station- 
ary. 

All  the  mammals  have  the  cerebellum  and  spi- 


THE  HEAD  AND  ITS  EXPRESSIONS.         137 

nal  cord  well  developed.  This  disposition  of 
nerve  substance  serves  a  predominant  Vital 
nature.  In  man  there  has  been  a  steady  growth 
of  the  cerebrum  or  fore-brain.  And  it  is  this  fact 
of  the  evolution  of  upper  and  fore-brain  that 
marks  his  supremacy.  Both  common  and  scien- 
tific observation  agree  that  we  look  for  intellec- 
tual expression  in  the  approach  to  the  vertical  of 
the  forehead. 

But  we  believe  Alexander  Walker,  the  Scotch 
physiognomist,  to  have  been  the  first  to  formulate 
the  law  that,  through  form,  indicates  the  inten- 
sity and  permanency  of  intellectual  force. 

(3.)  Walker's  Law  :  On  the  length  of  the  cer- 
ebral organs  depends  their  intensity. 

On  their  breadth  depends  their  permanency. 

(/.)  We  believe  this  law  to  be  central  in  fixed  expressions 
of  Form.  The  student  in  his  study  of  heads  will  find  abun- 
dant proofs  of  its  validity.  Thus,  the  heads  of  nearly  all 
the  noted  poets,  artists,  actors,  orators  —  the  emotive  men  ; 
men  of  quick  sensibilities  ;  the  men  of  sentiment  —  conform 
to  this  law.  If  the  head  be  measured  with  tape  and  line,  its 
form  will  verify  this  observation ;  —  that  is,  the  cerebral  re- 
gion will  show  more  height  than  breadth. 

The  heads  of  Shakespeare,  Sir  Walter  Scott,  Lord  Byron, 
and  Burns  present  notable  examples  of  the  rule  of  this  prin- 
ciple. 

So,  too,  the  heads  of  great  lawyers,  shrewd  statesmen, 
generals,  architects,  builders  of  railways  —  men  of  judg- 
ment ;  men  of  practical  sense,  "  of  hard  common  sense  "  — 
will  measure  more  in  breadth  than  in  height. 

The  heads  of  Stephenson  and  Watt  among  great  archi- 
tects ;  of  Cromwell,  Napoleon,  and  Grant  among  generals ; 
of  Girard,  Vanderbilt,  and  Gould  among  organizers  of  great 
business  operations  illustrate  this  law. 


138  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

Another  statement  of  Law  will  include  both 
forms  of  Expression,  —  the  permanent  as  Form, 
and  the  transient  as  Motion. 

Law  :  The  hereditary,  habitual,  and  uncon- 
scious activities  of  the  Being  disclose  them- 
selves through  fixed  and  permanent  forms. 

The  transient,  immediate,  and  conscious  ac- 
tivities through  motion. 

This  Law  holds  good  in  the  expressions  of 
the  body  as  a  whole,  or  of  any  of  its  agents. 

(g.)  Take  as  an  illustration  one  who  has  made  money- 
getting  the  supreme  end  of  his  existence.  Now,  at  the  age 
of  sixty,  this  habitual  and  ceaseless  psychic  activity  has  made 
fixed  and  rigid  the  muscles  of  the  face ;  and  the  lines  and 
forms  presented  declare  him  a  miser. 

And  all  the  years  of  his  ignoble  pursuit  he  was  chiseling, 
day  by  day,  a  statue  of  flesh  of  repulsive  aspect,  adding  to 
the  expressive  lines  of  head  and  face  by  every  miserly 
thought  and  act. 

We  may  now  state,  broadly,  the  expressions  of 
the  head,  presented  by  the  cranium  (the  fixed 
and  permanent  skull)  through  outline  and  form. 

II.  The  expression  of  form  and  outline  of  the 
forehead  is  Mental. 

III.  Of  the  arch  of  the  crown  of  the  head,  as 
far  as  the  roots  of  the  hair,  is  JZmotive. 

I.  Of  the  back  of  the  head  is  Vital. 

We  think  this  analysis  of  the  expressions  of 
the  fixed  and  permanent  form  of  the  cranium 
will  be  found  to  agree  with  the  scientific  deduc- 
tions of  modern  anthropology. 

It  is  essentially  the  analysis  of  Lavater,  and  it 


THE  HEAD  AND  ITS  EXPRESSIONS.         139 

agrees  with  the  broad  deductions  of  phrenology 
made  by  Gall  and  Spurzheim.  Whatever  differ- 
ences of  opinion  may  exist  in  regard  to  the  empir- 
ical conclusions  of  cranioscopy,  which  maps  out 
certain  tracts  of  the  skull  as  the  domain  of  cer- 
tain mental  faculties,  we  believe  scientific  thought 
to  agree  in  the  main  with  our  conclusions. 

(h.)  Delsarte  is  credited  by  Delaumosne 1  with  the  divi- 
sion of  the  head,  including  the  face,  into  five  zones. 

We  present  a  diagram  of  his  scheme  of  the  cranium  and 
face. 


Each  zone  speaks  its  language  through  external  form.  In 
this  scheme  I  represents  Vital,  II  Mental,  III  Emotive. 
The  exact  statement  of  Delaumosne  is :  "  The  Life  is  in  the 
occiput,  the  Soul  in  the  parietal,  the  Mind  in  the  frontal." 

These  divisions  of  the  head  and  face,  accredited  to  Del- 
sarte, are  manifestly  taken  from  Lavater.  We  think  that 
they  will  bear  the  test  of  critical  observers  of  human  ex- 
pression, as  well  as  of  scientific  deduction. 

Let  us  now  consider  the  gestures  of  the  head 

as  an  agent  of  expression. 

Let  us  recall  three  propositions  :  — 

1.  Each  zone  of  the  head  speaks  its  language 

of  expression  through  Form. 

1  See  Delsarte  System,  p.  169,  Edgar  S.  Werner,  New  York. 


140  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

2.  Each  zone  speaks  an  expressive  language 
through  Motion. 

3.  Both  Form  and  Motion  may  be  expres- 
sive, as  Eccentric,  Poise,  and  Concentric. 

When  Form  is  presented,  we  infer ;  when  Mo- 
tion, we  know.  Thus,  given  a  retreating  fore- 
head, large  cheek  bones,  and  heavy  jaws,  and  we 
infer  the  amount,  kind,  and  quality  of  intelli- 
gence. 

Motion,  on  the  other  hand,  immediately  trans- 
lates the  ruling  mood.  Thus,  when  we  see  the 
fist  clenched,  the  brow  corrugated,  and  the  jaws 
firmly  set  we  know  the  man  to  be  angry. 

We  may  study  the  gestures  of  the  head  from 
two  points  of  view  :  — 

1.  As  an  agent  of  expression  through  its  un- 
assisted movements. 

2.  As  a  centre  of  arrival  and  departure  for  the 
gestures  of  the  hand  and  arm. 

(h.)  In  our  discussion  of  the  gestures  of  the  hand  and 
arm,  it  will  appear  that  our  strictly  Mental  gestures  tend  to 
arrive  at,  or  depart  from,  the  great  Mental  centre,  the  head, 
and  to  coordinate  the  elements  of  Time  and  Space  with  the 
motion  of  the  gesture. 

The  head  has  three  primary  modes  of  mo- 
tion to  translate  the  three  primary  states  of  the 
Being. 

The  modes  of  Motion  and  the  states  of  Being 
which  correspond  in  gestures  are  :  — 

I.  Eccentric  Motion :  which  corresponds 
with  the  Vital  nature,  and  translates  its  ac- 
tivities. 


THE  HEAD  AND  ITS  EXPRESSIONS.        141 

II.  Concentric  Motion :  which   corresponds 
with  the  Mental  nature,  and  translates  its  activ- 
ities. 

III.  Poise  of  Motion :    which  corresponds 
with  the  higher  Emotive  nature,  and  translates 
its  activities. 

We  give  the  three  primary  attitudes  of  the 
head,  and  the  three  states  of  the  Being  expressed 
by  these  attitudes  :  — 

I.  The  Eccentric  Attitude  elevates  the  head9 
carries  it  high,  and  a  little  backwards. 

This  attitude  discloses  the  Vital  state. 

(i.)  It  will  be  noted  that  men  of  tine  physique  and  high 
health  carry  the  head  high.  Also,  that  undersized  men  — 
little  men,  who  are  ambitious  —  thus  strive  to  initiate  a  vis- 
ible correspondence  of  Outer  and  Inner. 

Soldiers,  hunters,  and  frontiersmen  illustrate  this  attitude. 
In  such  men  Life,  pure  and  simple,  is  strong.  The  Vital 
stream  is  at  its  flood. 

II.  The  Concentric  Attitude  lowers  or  bows 
the  head. 

This  attitude  discloses  the  Mental  or  Reflec- 
tive state. 

(j.)  Not  alone  the  head  but  all  the  agents  illustrate  reflec- 
tion, meditation,  absorbed  thought  through  this  mode  of 
motion. 

The  student  may  test  this  by  earnestly  assuming  the  mood 
of  deep  reflection.  The  body  will  play  its  part  in  exact  cor- 
respondence with  the  intensity  of  the  mood. 

III.  The  Poised  Attitude  holds  the  heady 
easily  erect,  in  balance  or  equilibrium. 

This  attitude  discloses  the  higher  Emotive 
Being. 


142  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 


The  student  will  note  that  this  state  of  the  Being 
finds  its  correspondence  in  the  balance  or  equilibrium  of  the 
body. 

All  elevated  moods  of  the  Soul  tend  to  equilibrium.  The 
body  is  poised  with  conscious  strength  in  the  highest  mo- 
ments of  the  Soul. 

We  present  a  series  of  nine  inflections  of  the 
head  :  — 

1.  A  forward  movement  of  the  body,  ending  in 
throwing  the  head  backwards,  indicates  interro- 
gation, surprise.     With  the  chin  forward,  admi- 
ration, expectation.      With   the  torso  forward, 
sympathy. 

2.  The  same  movement  with  the  chin  lowered 
indicates  doubt,  resignation,  humility.    With  the 
chin  falling  towards  the  chest,  confusion,  shame, 
self-condemnation. 

3.  A  forward,  vertical  nod  of  the  head  is  the 
sign  of  affirmation. 

The  side  to  side  horizontal  movement,  the  sign 
of  negation. 

4.  A  sudden,  oblique,  forward  movement  of 
the  head  indicates  the  menace  of  an  angry  man. 
A   slow,    slightly   oblique,    forward   movement, 
starting  from  poise,  is  the  menace  of  a  resolute 
man. 

But  if  the  gesture  be  a  sudden  oblique  move- 
ment backwards,  it  is  the  threat  of  a  weak  man. 

5.  An  inquiry  made  with  slight  oblique  move- 
ment of  the  head,  while  slowly  folding  the  arms, 
is  a  menace. 

6.  The  head  lifted  slowly,  along  the  vertical 


THE  HEAD  AND  ITS  EXPRESSIONS.         143 

line,  and  thrown  slightly  backward,  indicates  ex- 
altation. Thrown  back  with  lateral  to-and-fro 
movement,  self-esteem,  boastfulness,  self-suffi- 
ciency. Tossed  obliquely  backward,  dissent,  de- 
preciation. 

7.  Head   thrown    obliquely   backwards,    chin 
raised,  upper-lip  raised  —  sometimes  uncovering 
the   canine  tooth,   on  the  left  side  —  indicates 
hatred,  disdain,  contempt. 

8.  Head  erect,  then  thrown  backward  with 
violence,  indicates  horror.     Thrown  back  with 
slow  movement,  with  eyes  turned  upwards,  ven- 
eration, reverence.     In  melancholy  the  head  in- 
clines  downward    towards    the    left    side.      In 
malevolence  the  head  moves  horizontally  to  and 
fro,  the  eyes  partly  closed  following  the  line  of 
the  horizon. 

9.  Head    giving   quick    rotative    movements, 
with  sudden   oblique   gestures,  indicates   impa- 
tience, annoyance  about  little  things. 

The  head  and  torso  move  at  the  same  time 
when  the  Mental  and  Emotive  natures  desire  to 
make  one  expression,  and  for  the  same  purpose. 
If  now  we  suppose  the  Vital  to  invade  the  Mental 
and  Emotive  zones,  three  gestures  seem  to  act 
in  unison,  and  this  with  all  races  of  men  more 
often  than  any  others,  and  thus  disclose  the 'com- 
plex psychic  state.  The  Vital  shows  the  high- 
est activity  through  these  forms.  (1.)  The 
clenched  fist.  (2.)  The  closed  teeth.  (3.)  The 
corrugated  brow. 


144  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

The  hand  and  arm  may  emphasize  all  gestures 
of  the  head  and  torso. 

So,  a  purely  Mental  comment  would  be  given 
with  a  gesture  of  the  head,  the  hand  adding  its 
emphasis,  the  torso  making  no  movement.  But 
an  Emotive  or  passional  comment  would  be  ini- 
tiated from  the  torso,  the  hand  assisting,  and 
the  gesture  from  the  head  coming  last. 

So,  broadly  speaking,  the  science  of  semiotics1 
founded  upon  the  analysis  of  Delsarte  seems  to 
be  well  founded,  that  the  gestures  of  the  head 
are  Mental,  those  of  the  torso  Emotive,  those  of 
the  limbs  Vital. 

(m.)  The  student  should  bear  in  mind  that  in  expres- 
sions of  passion,  under  the  impulse  of  Nature,  no  agent  is 
uninterested  in  the  drama  that  is  being  enacted.  Each  has 
its  role.  Each  is  master  of  its  own  effects.  Each  knows, 
too,  how  to  subordinate  its  egotism.  To  the  principals  the 
chief  role,  to  the  subordinates  inferior  roles.  All  must  aid 
to  make  the  play  a  sustained,  proportioned,  and  coordinated 
whole. 

Art  forms  its  mimic  display  out  of  the  ample  and  every- 
where present  material  of  natural  display,  and  so  it  hap 
pens  that  Art,  the  most  art-full,  always  affects  us  as  Nature, 
the  most  nature-full. 

1  Semiotics  is  the  science  of  signs.  The  term  is  an  excellent  one  in 
the  technique  of  expression.  It  signifies  the  appropriation  of  the  sign 
to  the  idea.  Give  the  sign  and  you  suggest  the  mood.  This  fitting 
the  gesture  to  the  idea  is  Delsarte's  discovery.  Every  mood  has  its 
natural  sign.  To  know  the  sign,  to  direct  the  agents  to  give  the  sign, 
to  coordinate  nature  and  art  through  the  sign  is  to  master  the  science 
and  art  of  semiotics. 


CHAPTEE  X. 

THE    HAND    AND    ABM    IN    GESTUBE. 

ONE  day  —  more  years  now  than  the  author 
cares  to  be  accurate  about — his  revered  teacher, 
William  Eussell  (who  that  came  under  the  in- 
fluence of  this  great  teacher  can  ever  forget  the 
charm  of  his  manner  !)  opened,  before  his  class 
of  enthusiastic  students,  a  rare  old  volume  dis- 
closing a  full-page  picture  of  an  orator,  stand- 
ing, to  all  appearance,  inside  a  globe  and  point- 
ing with  extended  arm  toward  some  letters  (r. 
oblq.  u.)  right,  oblique,  upwards,  inscribed  upon 
the  inner  periphery  of  the  projected  sphere. 
The  teacher  said  to  the  class  :  "  This  is  Austin's 
Chironomia,  and  here  you  will  find  the  best 
treatment  extant  of  the  subject  of  gesture." 

We  attached  little  meaning  to  the  picture 
then,  and  have  since  had  a  suspicion  that  neither 
the  eminent  teacher  nor  the  author  of  the  rare 
volume  found  any  deeper  significance  in  that 
pictured  globe,  inside  which  stood  the  orator,  as 
in  a  cage,  than  a  convenient  way  of  enforcing 
the  technique  of  the  hand  and  arm  in  gesture. 

Some  years  later  we  were  reading,  in  an  idle 
mood,  Victor  Hugo's  "Toilers  of  the  Sea,"  when 
10 


146  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

a  significant  sentence  of  the  great  French  writer 
flashed  a  correspondence  into  our  mind  that  had 
never  occurred  to  us.  The  sentence  read :  — 

Man  stands  on  one  globe  and  bears  another 
on  his  shoulders. 

"  Are  all  gestures,"  we  asked  ourself,  "  rooted 
in  correspondences  between  this  material  appear- 
ance, our  objective  world,  and  our  subjective  re- 
lations to  these  outer  appearances  ?  " 

We  ask  the  student  to  ponder  thoughtfully 
our  query.  And  as  a  stimulus  to  his  thought, 
let  him  reflect  upon  a  few  propositions. 

1.  There   are   three   planes   of   vision.     The 
plane  of  Equality,  of  the  Superior,  and  of  the 
Inferior. 

Two  of  these  planes  form  divisions  or  zones 
of  the  visible  hemisphere  that  is  arched  above 
us. 

Man  alone  surveys  the  three  zones  of  the 
sphere.  Animals,  bound  by  instinct  and  with  no 
conscious  centre,  see  only  what  is.  They  survey 
only  the  zone  of  Equality.  Led  by  their  sensa- 
tions they  live  in  the  kingdom  of  here  and  now. 

2.  If  an  idea  leads  you,  the  eye  moves  up- 
wards in  space  in  pursuit.     When  you  gain  the 
idea  the  eye  moves  downwards. 

3.  All  the  phenomena  of  the  imagination  are 
in  the  spaces  of  the  imagination. 

4.  In  expression  the  line  of  the  horizon  is  the 
boundary  of  the  positive    and   negative   zone's. 
The  zone  of  the  positive  extends  from  this  line 


THE  HAND  AND  ARM  IN  GESTURE. 


147 


through  90°  to  the  zenith.      The  zone  of  the 
negative  through  90°  to  the  nadir. 

5.  The  hemisphere  from  zenith  to  nadir  which 
we  face  is  positive  in  significance.     The  hemis- 
phere at  our  back  is  negative  in  significance. 

6.  It  is  upon  the  revelations  and  implications 
of  the  sphere  that  the  different  angles  made  by 
the  hand  and  arm  come  to  have  absolute  signif- 
icance in  gesture. 

So  ascending  angles  must  in  the  nature  of 
things  express  degrees  of  certainty  and  affirma- 
tion. Descending  angles  must  express  degrees  of 
doubt  and  negation. 

(a.)  The  diagram  will  illustrate  :  — 

Zone  of  the  Superior. 


Zone  of  Equality. 


It  is  so. 


Zone  of  the  Inferior. 


\ 


\ 


Let  us  reason  upon  the  significance  of  this  fact 
that  our  gestures  seem  to  bear  a  relation  to  the 
figure  of  the  sphere. 

The  globe  upon  which  we  stand,  and  its  envi* 


148  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

ronment,  is  the  world  our  senses  have  built  for 
us. 

It  is  the  physical  and  sensible  apparition  of  the 
mental  philosopher.  A  world  of  matter  made 
known  to  us  through  impressions,  received  by 
special  organs  of  sense,  which  impressions  are  co- 
ordinated by  the  central  mass  of  organic  nerve 
substance,  the  brain. 

Now  the  testimony,  continual  and  persistent, 
of  these  sense  organs,  led  by  the  eye,  is  that  we 
stand  at  the  centre  of  a  limited  and  fixed  plane, 
with  a  dome  of  sky  above,  and  shutting  down 
upon  us  like  a  huge  inverted  bowl. 

In  vain  we  argue  that  these  are  sense  relations 
which  modern  science  has  dissipated.  They  re- 
main realities  to  the  savage  and  to  the  civilized 
child. 

Reason  as  we  may,  our  every-day  talk  and  ges- 
ture betray  us.  We  are  in  vernacular  and  at  root 
disciples  of  Ptolemy.  Every  day  the  sun  rises 
and  sets,  and  the  willing  testimony  of  our  sense 
of  sight  is  that  the  moon  is  larger  than  the  day 
star. 

There  is  a  constant  tendency  in  us,  which  po- 
etry and  art  foster,  to  revert  to  that  early  morn 
of  the  race  when  appearances  were  realities  and 
the  testimony  of  the  senses  final ;  when  the  earth 
was  the  centre,  the  sun  and  moon  the  greater  and 
lesser  lights ;  when  the  heavens  were  the  "  up- 
heaved," and  Hades  the  "  cast  down." 

Thus  are  we  inexorably  chained  to  the  rela- 
tions of  our  environment. 


THE  HAND  AND  ARM  IN  GESTURE.         149 

(J.)  The  crude  conceptions  of  the  most  advanced  writers 
of  the  middle  ages  hardly  parallel  the  concepts  of  the  pres- 
ent races  of  savages  and  of  our  children.  For  two  hundred 
years,  including  the  sixth  and  seventh  centuries  of  the  Chris- 
tian era,  the  ecclesiastic  writers  taught  that  the  earth  was  a 
square  plain,  at  whose  outer  edges  rose  mountain  walls,  sup- 
porting the  dome  of  heaven. 

This  dome  was  a  solid  crystal  roof,  wherein  the  fixed  stars 
were  set,  and  over  which  the  sun  and  moon  were  pulled  to 
and  fro  hi  grooves  by  the  angels. 

Above  this  firmament,  which  separated  the  waters  above 
from  the  waters  below,  was  the  celestial  cistern,  through 
whose  windows  the  rain  fell. 

Above  this  was  heaven,  constructed  with  seven  stories.  In 
the  highest  story  dwelt  Jehovah  himself,  seated  on  a  dazzling 
throne,  surrounded  by  angels  and  saints. 

Thus  were  the  calm  and  majestic  appearances  of  the  o'er- 
hanging  sky,  which  everywhere  fills  the  natural  man  with 
awe  and  wonder,  tortured  from  their  sedate  and  reverent 
meaning  to  light  the  obscurity  of  a  Hebrew  text. 

Thus  it  is  a  necessity  that  each  man  stands 
upon  the  globe,  and  at  the  centre  of  the  Uni- 
verse, and  projects  radial  lines  into  the  spaces 
above  and  around  him,  and  refers  to  all  objects 
as  here  or  there,  near  or  remote,  from  where  he 
stands. 

But  the  globe  he  bears  upon  his  shoulders, 
what  of  that  ? 

It  is  a  world  inexorably  bound  to  matter,  and 
yet  the  farthest  possible  remove  from  it.  A 
world  of  concepts,  —  images  of  the  actual,  pic- 
tures of  the  real,  —  projected  in  some  way  that 
baffles  science  to  explain,  form  the  convoluted 
cortex  of  the  brain,  every  picture  being  some  ka- 


150  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

leidoscope  re-presentation  of  the  forms,  forces, 
changes,  and  interactions  of  an  environment  of 
matter. 

And  this  is  the  world  that  man  bears  upon  his 
shoulders. 

Let  us  summarize  our  conclusions  arrived  at  in 
two  propositions  :  — 

Prop.  I.  For  each  human  being  there  always 
and  ever  exists  a  visible,  material,  or  objective 
sphere.  He  is  at  its  centre,  and  refers  to  all  ob- 
jects as  filling  its  spaces,  or  as  outlined  against 
its  periphery. 

Prop.  II.  Through  the  operation  of  psychic 
law,  and  by  a  subtle  process  which  we  may 
never  fathom,  the  great  knot  of  nerve  matter 
that  fills  the  skull  projects  just  such  another 
sphere  ;  its  subjective  image,  picture,  and  corre- 
$2)ondence,  with  like  periphery,  spaces,  and  ob- 
jects. 

Now,  bearing  in  mind  the  interdependences 
and  correspondences  of  these  two  worlds,  which 
are  realities  in  every  one's  consciousness,  let  us 
formulate  three  propositions  bearing  upon  hu- 
man expression  :  — 

Prop.  I.  Man  as  a  sentient  being  is  both  Im- 
pressive and  Ex^)ressive. 

II.  He  must  have  the  inward  impression  be- 
fore he  can  give  the  outward  expression. 

III.  Impressions  always   tend  to   manifest 
themselves  through  some  outward  form,  and, 
when  strong  enough,  always  do   so   manifest 
themselves. 


THE  HAND  AND  ARM  IN  GESTURE.         151 

And,  as  a  corollary  from  the  above  proposi- 
tions, we  add :  — 

Those  races,  or  individuals,  have  most  ex- 
pressive power  in  whom  sensations  are  most 
frequent  and  active. 

(c.)  This  tendency  of  the  Being  to  reproduce  through 
form  and  motion  what  has  been  received  through  the  sense 
organs  is  central  in  expression. 

We  may  say  that  the  Psychic  in  man  seeks  expression. 
As  we  have  shown,  its  three  forms  are  voice,  gesture,  and 
articulate  speech.  Through  these  forms  it  seeks  to  make 
itself  objective. 

But  in  the  last  analysis  all  is  gesture.  Voice  is  the  ges- 
ture of  the  larynx.  Articulation,  gesture  of  the  mouth  or- 
gans. The  face,  a  moving  mirror  of  gesture. 

We  may  divide  all  gestures  into  two  classes:  — 

1.  Gestures  which  make  reference  to  objects. 

2.  Gestures  which  express  the  states  or  con- 
ditions of  the  Being. 

In  the  first  class  we  shall  include  the  two  kinds 
of  objects  presented  to  consciousness  :  1.  Objects 
of  matter.  2.  Objects  of  the  mind.  Or,  objects 
in  real,  and  objects  in  ideal.  'The  thing  itself; 
its  picture. 

Let  us  consider  the  first  class  of  gestures,  and 
the  special  instrument  by  which  these  gestures 
are  made. 

There  are  two  faces  with  which  we  look  out- 
ward upon  the  material  world  and  inward  upon 
the  immaterial  world. 

These  faces  are  our  faces  and  our  hands, — 
the  human  face  with  its  mental  centre,  the  eye ; 


152  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

the  human  hand  with  its  revealing  centre,  the 
palm. 

These  two  faces  are  the  most  active  of  all  the 
agents  of  expression. 

(d.)  The  face  leads  in  expression,  and  the  eye  leads  the 
face.  The  face  more  completely  manifests  the  ruling  con- 
ditions of  the  Being. 

The  hand  manifests  more  completely  man's  comment  upon 
existing  objects.  It  is  an  assistant  to  the  expressions  the 
face  has  already  given. 

It  does  what  the  face  cannot  do  :  it  can  handle  the  object, 
sketch  it,  and  project  it  in  form  into  space. 

There  is  a  wonderful  comity  existing  between  the  three 
great  agents,  —  the  Face,  Hand,  and  Voice. 

What  the  face  cannot  put  into  gesture  is  given  to  the 
hand.  What  the  hand  cannot  express  is  given  to  the  voice. 

These  three  agents,  let  it  be  noted,  culminate  their  forms 
of  expression  in  the  great  songs  of  Liberty.  Said  Klopstock : 
"  The  Marseillaise  has  cost  Germany  the  lives  of  fifty  thou- 
sand of  the  best  of  her  children." 

The  hand  and  arm,  then,  is  the  bodily  agent 
by  which  man  makes  real  and  present  the  objects 
filling  the  spaces  of  two  worlds. 

Let  us  consider  its  fitness  through  structure, 
function,  and  utility  for  its  highest  use,  —  that  of 
Expression. 

Comparative  anatomy  has  conclusively  demon- 
strated that  the  human  hand  and  arm  is  the  dif- 
ferentiated fore-limb  of  a  vertebrate  animal. 

The  great  naturalists,  Owen,  Agassiz,  Huxley, 
Broca,  have  demonstrated  that  essentially  the 
same  structure  of  the  fore-limbs  is  found  in  al] 
vertebrates. 


THE  HAND  AND  ARM  IN  GESTURE.        153 

That  the  same  bones  which  form  the  hand  and 
arm  of  man  find  their  analogues  in  the  fin  of  the 
fish,  the  paddle  of  the  turtle,  the  wing  of  the 
bird,  the  hoof  of  the  horse,  the  paw  of  the  bear, 
and  the  almost  human  extremity  of  the  anthro- 
poid ape. 

In  a  word,  these  are,  one  and  all,  prophecies 
of  the  human  hand  and  arm. 

The  perfect  differentiation  of  the  fore-limbs 
into  hand  and  arm  came  with  the  acquisition  of 
articulate  speech,  and  both  kept  pace  with  the 
differentiation  of  the  brain. 

(e.)  Emancipation  must  have  been  Nature's  purpose  long 
before  it  became  realization. 

And  when  at  last  man  could  assume  the  vertical  and  lift 
his  face  above  the  line  of  the  horizon,  and  could  sweep  with 
his  eyes  all  the  spaces  of  the  visible  hemisphere,  —  when  he 
began  to  utter  consonant  sounds  in  addition  to  inarticulate 
cries,  —  the  fore-limbs  of  an  essentially  anthropoid  structure 
kept  pace  with  his  emancipation,  and  released  themselves 
from  taking  any  part  in  the  lower  office  of  the  Vital  nature, 
locomotion,  and  slowly  differentiated  a  human  hand  with 
five  sensitive  lengths. 

This  differentiation  of  structure  to  fit  a  cor- 
responding differentiation  of  brain  substance, 
and  also  of  the  trachea  and  mouth  to  fit  them 
for  articulate  speech,  has  kept  wide  open  the 
chasm  between  man  and  beast  —  a  chasm  which 
it  would  seem  impossible  ever  to  bridge. 

Huxley  admits  that  he  finds  no  germ  of  an 
art  faculty  in  brutes.  Darwin  says  that  he  dis- 
covers no  sense  of  humor  in  the  beasts. 


154  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

But  the  Abbe  Bourgois  finds  that  the  man  of 
the  quaternary  period,  perhaps  even  earlier  than 
that  dim  era,  sketched  the  hair-clad  cave  bear 
and  elephant  upon  ivory  with  flint  points. 

And  modern  science  confirms  the  saying  of 
Democritus  that  all  the  senses  grew  out  from 
the  finger-lengths,  and  were  modifications  of 
touch. 

Wonderful  prophecy  of  art  attainment  written 
in  structure :  — 

The  human  arm  is  a  thigh  turned  round! 

Technically,  in  gesture,  the  arm  consists  of 
three  lengths :  arm,  fore-arm,  and  hand.  It  is 
a  flexible  lever,  or  rather  a  combination  of  lev- 
ers, each  with  its  own  centre  of  motion,  and 
each  capable  of  moving  from  another  centre 
than  its  own. 

This  arrangement  of  three  radii  and  three 
centres  makes  all  forms  of  motion  possible. 

(f.)  Professor  Benjamin  Peirce  of  Harvard  University 
has  proved,  by  rigid  mathematical  process,  that  if  a  lever 
be  made  to  revolve  on  a  centre,  and  its  free  extremity  be 
made  the  centre  of  motion  of  another  lever  while  the  first 
is  revolving,  and  if  a  third  lever  be  attached  to  the  second 
in  the  same  way ;  not  only  the  cycles  and  epicycles,  by  which 
the  old  astronomers  indicated  the  wanderings  of  the  planets, 
but  all  curves  may  be  traced. 

And  if  there  is  added  a  fourth,  fifth,  and  sixth  lever,  the 
tracing  of  all  forms  becomes  possible. 

Now,  this  is  identically  the  system  of  levers  and  centres 
found  in  the  human  arm  and  hand. 

The  fingers  add  the  fourth,  fifth,  and  sixth  levers. 

To  man,  assuming  the  vertical,  with  eyes  surveying  the 


THE  HAND  AND  ARM  IN  GESTURE.        155 

three  zones  of  Equality,  Superior,  and  Inferior,  with  the  two 
fore-limbs  differentiated,  so  that  they  may  project  radial 
lines  in  all  directions  toward  the  periphery  of  the  sphere, 
what  measure  of  progress  is  not  possible  ? 

Let  us  indicate  these  three  centres  of  mo- 
tion: — 

(1.)  The  centre  at  the  shoulder.  Here  is  the 
centre  of  motion  for  the  whole  instrument. 

The  joint  helping  to  form  the  shoulder  is  a 
ball  and  socket  joint.  This  arrangement  gives 
freedom  and  sweep  of  movement  from  this  cen- 
tre. 

(2.)  The  centre  at  the  elbow.  Here  is  the 
centre  of  motion  for  the  fore-arm  and  hand. 
Here  we  have  the  two  bones  of  the  fore-arm  so 
jointed  with  the  bone  of  the  arm  as  to  allow 
both  a  free,  revolving  motion  and  an  outward 
and  inward  motion. 

This  arrangement  gives  the  important  move- 
ments of  the  hand  known  as  pronation  and  su- 
pination. 

(3.)  Centre  at  the  wrist.  Here  we  find  the 
centre  of  motion  for  the  hand.  Here  eight 
small  bones  are  arranged  in  two  rows,  and  are 
so  jointed  as  to  allow  two  movements,  a  hinge 
movement  and  a  movement  from  side  to  side. 
The  centre  of  the  revolving  movement  of  the 
hand  is  at  the  elbow. 

Thus  this  instrument  of  levers  and  centres 
combines  all  the  necessary  elements  for  strength, 
ease,  and  gracefulness  of  motion. 


156  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

In  directing  a  gesture  outwards  the  arm  ini- 
tiates the  movement.  Then  the  fore-arm  turns 
on  its  centre,  the  elbow ;  and  last  the  hand,  mov- 
ing from  its  centre,  the  wrist,  concentrates  all 
this  accumulated  motion  into  executive  and  sig- 
nificant gesture.  And  so  the  hand  climaxes  ex- 
pression. 

(g.)  The  student  will  note  that  in  man  the  evolution  of 
hand  and  arm  is  complete. 

The  bones  increase  in  length  and  the  muscles  in  size 
from  the  fingers  upwards.  The  shoulder  projects  beyond 
the  side  of  the  body,  the  muscles  of  the  chest  and  back  aid 
the  motion. 

There  is  the  greatest  freedom  at  the  shoulder,  the  great- 
est firmness  at  the  elbow,  the  greatest  strength  at  the 
wrist.  The  whole  instrument  is  at  once  a  pliant  chain  and 
a  bar  of  steel. 

What  shall  prevent  the  being  with  such  formidable  eman- 
cipations from  rulership  upon  the  earth  ?  We  may  well 
claim  for  him  the  significant  term  of  modern  anthropology, 
and  call  him  ABCHONT,  THE  RULER. 

In  considering  the  lines  of  gesture,  traced  by 
the  hand  and  arm,  we  shall  find  the  instrument 
to  be  limited  by  two  conditions :  — 

(1.)  The  condition  imposed  by  its  structure  as 
a  part  of  the  organism. 

(2.)  The  condition  of  the  restriction  imposed 
through  our  ideas  of  Space,  Time,  and  Motion. 

The  instrument  restricted  by  structure  has  its 
vertical  and  horizontal  limits. 

Let  us  trace  these  limitations  :  — 

The  vertical  sweep  of  the  arm  is  from  zenith 
to  nadir  through  180°  of  a  circle. 


THE  HAND  AND  ARM  IN  GESTURE. 


157 


The  horizontal  sweep  of  the  arm  is  through 
180°  of  a  circle  parallel  with  the  line  of  the 
horizon. 

The  diagram  will  illustrate  the  sweep  of  the 
instrument  through  180°  of  the  circle. 


45° 


45°-- 


(h.)  We  beg  the  student  to  pause  here  and  consider  the 
significance  of  these  lines  projected  by  the  vertical  and 
horizontal  sweep  of  the  hand  and  arm. 

Let  him  note :  1.  They  are  veritable  arcs  of  a  circle. 
2.  Their  projection  in  all  directions  by  the  sweep  of  the 
instrument  constructs  the  figure  of  the  globe.  3.  Recall 
Hugo's  lines :  "  Man  stands  on  one  globe  and  bears  another 
on  his  shoulders." 

Now  you  are  prepared  to  assist  at  a  new  creation.  Stand 
erect,  point  to  the  zenith  with  the  fore-finger  of  the  right 
arm.  Now  give  an  easy  sweep  through  180°  to  the  nadir. 
You  have  traced  an  arc  of  longitude  as  upon  a  globe.  Now 
sweep  the  left  arm  in  the  same  way  as  you  have  the  right. 
You  have  now  traced  two  arcs  and  formed  the  grand  circle 
of  your  globe  with  its  360°.  Now  carry  the  right  arm 
across  the  chest  and  sweep  through  180°.  Face  exactly  in 
the  opposite  direction  and  sweep  through  180°.  You  have 
traced  a  second  great  circle  —  the  equator  of  your  globe. 

Now  trace  the  lines  of  latitude  and  longitude,  and  you 


158  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

face  a  hemisphere.  It  is  the  hemisphere  of  the  Positive 
Zone. 

We  will  suppose  these  lines  of  latitude  and  longitude  to 
have  been  traced  with  electric  light,  so  that  your  hemisphere 
remains  visible.  Turn  right  about,  face  directly  opposite, 
produce  your  arcs,  both  vertical  and  horizontal.  You  find 
yourself  inside  a  globe.  Now,  perhaps,  you  recall  the  fact 
that  many  great  philosophic  minds  —  notably  Aristotle  and 
Plato,  Oken  and  Swedenborg,  Goethe  and  Bohme  —  have 
made  the  globe  the  symbol  of  wholeness  and  entirety. 

Let  us  play,  for  the  nonce,  the  magician !  Expand  near 
lines  into  remote,  near  spaces  into  distant  reaches,  and  you 
find  yourself  at  the  centre.  The  visible  hemisphere  is  above 
and  around  you ;  you  even  possess  the  stars  of  your  new 
creation !  All  objects  are  filling  spaces  or  are  outlined 
against  the  distant  periphery. 

Is  there  no  prophecy  lurking  anywhere  within  the  newly 
created  world  you  have  thus  swung  out  into  space  ? 

The  second  limitation  of  the  hand  and  arm 
is  the  condition  imposed  by  our  ideas  of  Space, 
Time,  and  Motion. 

The  whole  class  of  ideal  gestures  are  rooted 
in  the  correspondences  of  these  three  great  re- 
strictions. 

We  have  shown  that  Delsarte's  Nine  Laws  of 
Gesture  can  be  justified  only  by  reference  to  this 
law.  We  shall  discuss  the  subject  at  greater 
length  in  a  future  chapter  upon  "  The  Realm  of 
Correspondence  in  Gesture." 

We  may  draw  the  following  conclusions  from 
our  discussion  of  the  relations  existing  between 
the  two  worlds  :  — 

1.  That  all  objects,  .both  of  matter  and  of 
mind,  fill  the  spaces  or  are  outlined  upon  the 
inner  periphery  of  a  projected  sphere. 


THE  HAND  AND  ARM  IN  GESTURE.        159 

2.  That  all  gestures  referring  to  these  ob- 
jects will  be  identical;  for  the  lines  and  spaces 
of  the  one  will  be  the  lines  and  spaces  of  the 
other. 

3.  That  each  line  of  gesture  will  have  refer- 
ence to  a  radial  line  projected  from  a  centre 
where  stands  the  speaker. 

4.  Each  gesture,  referring  to  objects,  will 
have  the  three  technical  elements  of  Direction, 
Place,  and  Extension. 

(i.)  It  is  not  the  author's  intention  to  give,  in  this  trea- 
tise, the  technique  of  gesture. 

He  would  refer  the  student  to  Austin's  Chironomia  for 
an  exhaustive  treatment  of  technical  gesture.  All  recent 
manuals  of  gesture  are  founded  upon  this  admirable  trea- 
tise. 

A  definition  and  illustration  of  the  three  technical  terms 
that  indicate  the  relations  of  objects  to  the  speaker  and  his 
audience  will  come  within  the  scope  of  a  philosophic  treat- 
ment of  the  subject. 

1.  Direction  refers  to  some  point  upon  a  line  traced  by 
the  vertical  sweep  of  the  hand  and  arm  through  180°  of  a 
circle. 

We  name  five  points  of  Direction :  1.  Horizontal.  2.  As- 
cending. 3.  Zenith.  4.  Descending.  5.  Nadir  (see  p.  157 
for  illustrative  diagrams). 

2.  Place  refers  to  some  point  upon  the  line  traced  by  the 
horizontal  sweep  of  the  hand  and  arm  through  180°. 

We  name  five  points  of  Place :  1.  Front.  2.  Oblique. 
3.  Lateral.  4.  Oblique  backwards.  5.  Backwards. 

Technically,  then,  points  of  Direction  are  points  upwards 
or  downwards.  Points  upon  lines  of  longitude.  And  points 
of  Place  are  points  in  front,  at  side,  or  backwards.  Points 
upon  lines  of  latitude. 

3.  And  the  term  Extension  refers  to  the  outlining,  de- 


160  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

scribing,  or  emphasizing  movement  of  the  hand,  by  which 
the  speaker  indicates  the  form,  action,  or  some  other  prop- 
erty of  the  object. 

It  will  be  readily  seen  that  this  technique  establishes  re- 
lations of  Time,  Space,  and  Motion  between  the  speaker, 
his  audience,  and  the  objects  filling  the  spaces,  or  outlined 
against  the  periphery  of  a  projected  sphere,  from  whose 
relations  and  implications  there  is  no  escape. 

When  the  orator  standing  before  his  audience  has  given 
the  object  or  concept  Direction  at  some  point  upon  a  ver- 
tical, and  Place  at  some  point  upon  a  horizontal  line,  he  fre- 
quently adds  an  outlining  or  describing  gesture  of  the  hand. 
And  this  gesture  is  usually  the  climax  or  most  expressive 
moment  in  the  Time  of  the  action. 

Let  the  student  apply  this  technique  of  Direction,  Place, 
and  Extension  to  the  following  selection  according  to  our 
scheme :  — 

1.  Project  the  subjective  sphere.  2.  Locate  objects  in  its 
spaces,  corresponding  with  like  spaces  in  the  objective 
sphere.  Note  carefully  the  five  points  of  Direction  and 
Place  and  the  climax  of  the  outlining  or  expressive  action 
which  we  have  called  Extension. 

Scaling  yonder  peak, 
I  saw  an  eagle,  wheeling  near  its  brow 
Over  the  abyss ;  his  broad  expanded  wings 
Lay  calm  and  motionless  upon  the  air, 
As  if  he  floated  there,  without  their  aid, 
By  the  sole  act  of  his  unlorded  will 
That  buoyed  him  proudly  up. 

The  student  should  mark  that  in  all  our  ob- 
jective gestures  of  the  hand  the  palm  rules.  It 
is  the  face  of  the  hand.  The  palm  leads  the 

"WTlst. 

Whatever  gesture  traces  an  object,  the  palm, 
at  the  most  expressive  moment,  faces  or  looks  at 
the  object. 


THE  HAND  AND  ARM  IN  GESTURE.         161 

This  is  a  courteous  law  in  the  etiquette  of 
gesture.  Would  you  turn  your  back  upon  so 
august  a  personage  as  a  cloud-capped  mountain  ? 

In  technique,  the  fingers  group  themselves  in 
accordance  with  the  analyses  of  the  Greek  sculp- 
tors and  orators,  forever  models  of  strength  and 
gracefulness. 

The  two  middle  fingers  are  held  together  and 
are  slightly  bent  inwards.  The  index  and  the 
little  finger  are  separated  slightly  from  the  two 
middle  fingers,  the  index  nearly  straight,  the 
little  finger  slightly  curved.  The  thumb  is  held 
backwards  nearly  on  a  line  with  the  index  finger. 

(j.)  A  single  caution  should  be  whispered  in  the  ear  of 
the  earnest  student  of  technical  gesture. 

We  put  our  suggestion  into  two  apothegms  :  — 

1.  Conscious  technique  kills  expression.    It  is  the  uncon- 
scious that  gives  life. 

2.  A  gesture  put  on  is  a  grimace.    It  has  no  art  expres* 
sion. 

11 


CHAPTER  XL 

THE  GESTURES   OF  THE  HAND  AND  ARM  AS   MANI- 
FESTING  THE    STATES    OF    THE    BEING. 

IN  our  last  chapter  we  included  all  gestures 
through  which  man  manifests  himself  in  two 
classes :  — 

1.  Those  which  refer  to  objects,  whether  of 
matter  or  of  mind. 

2.  Those  which  more  directly  and  intimately 
translate  or  express  the  states  of  the  Being. 

Before  we  proceed  to  discuss  the  gestures  of 
the  second  class,  let  us  review  in  a  few  proposi- 
tions our  conclusions  of  the  last  chapter  :  — 

1.  By  "  the  nature  of  things  "  man  is  a  being 
limited  by  three  great  restrictions,  Space,  Time, 
and  Motion. 

These  restrictions  are  unavoidable,  always  op- 
erative, unchangeably  the  same. 

They  are  the  expression  and  summary  of  the 
inevitable. 

2.  Man,  as  we  find  him  on  this  earth,  is  so 
conditioned,  so  bound  by  what  seems  to  be,  that 
he,  as  a  necessity  of  this  seeming,  projects  the 
spheres  of  two  worlds  and  is  inexorably  bound 
to  their  centres. 


THE  HAND  AND  ARM  IN  GESTURE.        163 

These  two  worlds  are  :  The  sense  world,  the 
world  of  matter. 

The  picture  or  ideal  world,  the  world  of  mind. 

3.  We  know  of  the  reality  of  the  world  of 
matter  through  the  conclusive  evidence  of  our 
senses. 

And  we  know  of  the  reality  of  the  world  of 
mind  through  the  conclusive  testimony  of  our 
selves — our  souls. 

Of  these  two  worlds  the  world  of  mind  is  the 
most  real,  constant,  and  abiding. 

(a.)  Reflection  will  convince  the  thoughtful  mind  that  it 
is  only  the  young  to  whom  the  world  of  matter  is  most  real. 
"  Old  age  is  our  first  lesson  in  living  above  the  air,"  said 
Garth  Wilkinson. 

Huxley  quotes  Descartes  in  justification  of  this  idea. 
He  says  :  "  The  most  elementary  study  of  sensation  justi- 
fies Descartes'  position  that  we  know  more  of  mind  than  we 
do  of  body  —  that  the  immaterial  world  is  a  firmer  reality 
than  the  material.  So  long  as  a  sensation  persists,  it  is  a 
part  of  what  we  call  our  thinking  selves,  and  its  existence 
lies  beyond  the  possibility  of  a  doubt.  Our  sensations  and 
their  relations  make  up  the  sum  total  of  the  elements  of 
positive,  unquestionable  knowledge." 

4.  The  lines  of  gesture,  whether  referring  to 
the  objects  of  matter  or  of  mind,  are  identical. 
These  lines  have  reference  to  the  spaces  and  lines 
of  a  projected  sphere. 

With  this  brief  review,  we  proceed  to  the  con- 
sideration of  the  hand  and  arm  as  an  agent 
through  which  the  Being  manifests  its  three 
states  or  conditions. 


164  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

At  a  recent  banquet  in  New  York,  complimen- 
tary to  Salvini,  Dr.  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes  thus 
recorded  the  impression  made  upon  him  by  the 
great  actor :  "  You  might  almost  say  his  body 
thought ! " 

A  paraphrase  of  the  genial  poet's  fit  eulogy — 
removing  the  element  of  implied  doubt  —  gives 
us  the  central  thought  of  our  Synthetic  Philoso- 
phy of  Expression. 

"You  may  confidently  affirm  that  the  body 
thinks,"  in  the  sense  of  ready  assent  and  compli- 
ance. In  this  ready  response  of  the  whole  Outer 
to  Inner  conditions,  we  find  that  in  pantomimic 
action  the  psychic  approach  is  first  shown  in  the 
face,  the  eye  leading  the  features.  The  hand  be- 
comes the  agent  for  bringing  all  objects  into  the 
field  of  consciousness  that  are  at  such  a  distance 
from  speaker  and  audience  as  to  require  pointing 
out,  or  bringing  into  the  field  of  vision.  This 
law  follows,  whether  the  objects  exist  in  the  ma- 
terial or  the  immaterial  sphere. 

We  assert  this  to  be  the  primary  office  of  the 
hand  in  the  Art  of  Expression. 

In  the  slow  process  of  development,  if  we  con- 
sult the  facts  presented  by  the  theory  of  evolu- 
tion, we  find  the  hand  and  arm,  as  an  agent, 
lending  itself  to  the  Vital  uses  of  the  animal.  So 
we  shall  find  this  agent,  as  a  structure,  has  in 
long  reaches  of  time  adapted  itself  to  its  environ- 
ment, and  has  shown  (see  page  99)  a  constant 
and  progressive  development  along  the  paral- 


THE  HAND  AND  ARM  IN  GESTURE.         165 

Ms  of  Structure,  Function,  and  Utility ;  un- 
til now,  in  the  highest  forms  of  Speech  Art,  it 
becomes,  next  the  face,  the  most  expressive  agent 
the  Soul  has  at  its  command. 

Primarily,  then,  the  hand  and  arm  is  the  agent 
of  the  Vital  nature.  It  discloses  the  activity  of 
the  Vital  Being. 

The  fore-limbs  of  all  the  other  land  mammals 
never  release  themselves  from  service  to  the  Vital. 
Their  use  is  locomotion  and  occasional  prehen- 
sion, and  their  release  in  man  came  slowly  and 
painfully,  and  in  exact  correspondence  with  the 
differentiation  of  the  brain. 

The  story  is  told  with  significant  force,  when 
we  find  that  with  the  other  mammals  the  fore- 
limbs  are  united  to  the  trunk  and  serve  the  body, 
while  with  man  the  fore-limbs  are  structurally 
united  with  the  head  and  serve  the  Being. 

So  we  may  confidently  conclude  that  the  three 
natures  of  man  —  the  Vital,  Emotive,  and  Men- 
tal —  will  disclose  themselves,  not  alone  through 
the  body  as  a  whole,  through  its  separate  agents 
as  parts,  but  also  through  zones  of  the  separate 
agents. 

As  we  have  shown  in  our  last  chapter,  the  arm 
and  hand,  through  structure,  has  three  centres  of 
motion,  —  the  centres  of  the  shoulder,  elbow,  and 
wrist. 

Gestures  from  these  centres  translate  the  states 
of  the  Being. 

(b.)  It  is  reported  from  various  sources  that  Delsarte 


166  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

taught  the  shoulders  to  be  Vital  in  significance ;  the  elbow, 
Emotive  ;  and  the  wrist,  Mental. 

The  student  should  bear  constantly  in  mind  that  such 
broad  statements,  if  they  were  given  by  Delsarte  as  a  part 
of  a  system  of  philosophy,  must  have  been  founded  upon 
data  carefully  observed,  duly  considered,  and  at  length  for- 
mulated into  conclusions  that  bear  the  force  of  law.  Broadly 
speaking,  it  seems  true  that  in  the  gestures  of  the  shoulders 
the  Vital  nature  predominates ;  in  those  of  the  elbow,  the 
Emotive ;  in  those  of  the  wrist,  the  Mental.1 

Let  the  student  suspend  judgment  until  he  shall  have 
thought  through  a  great  number  of  analogies  and  correspon- 
dences that  lie  near  the  surface  of  our  subject ;  he  will  thus 
refresh  himself  for  the  study  of  some  years  that  must  pre- 
cede his  enlightenment. 

Let  us  consider  each  tract  or  division  of  this 
agent,  and  see  what  grounds  founded  on  struc- 
ture, function  and  utility  there  may  be  for  the 
higher  use  of  the  instrument  in  Expression. 

OF   THE    SHOULDERS. 

The  gestures  of  the  shoulders  are  Vital  in  sig- 
nificance. It  is  true  that  our  strongest  emotions 
also  move  the  shoulders ;  but  the  logic  of  struc- 
ture seems  here  apparent,  and  if  forced  to  classify 
we  must  decide  them  to  be  Vital.  The  torso  and 
shoulders  are  knit  together  by  strong  bands  of 

1  While  this  treatise  is  going1  through  the  press,  Miss  Genevieve 
Stebbins'  Delsarte  System  of  Dramatic  Expression  (Edgar  S.  Werner, 
New  York)  is  before  the  author.  The  lady  is  supposed  to  reflect^ 
mainly,  the  theories  of  Delsarte,  as  held  by  Mr.  Steele  Mackaye. 

We  quote  Miss  Stebbins  (p.  107)  :  — 

1.  The  shoulder  is  the  thermometer  of  sensibility  and  passion. 

2.  The  elbow  is  the  thermometer  of  the  affections  and  self-wilL 

3.  The  wrist  is  the  thermometer  of  Vital  energy. 


THE  HAND  AND.  ARM  IN  GESTURE.        167 

muscles,  and  act  together  in  all  Vital  move- 
ments. 

When  the  torso  is  dilated  and  pushed  forward, 
the  shoulders  accommodate  themselves  to  the 
movement  and  are  thrown  backward. 

The  square  shoulders,  with  chest  eccentric,  are 
Vitally  aggressive.  This  is  the  military  attitude. 

The  shoulders  brought  forward,  with  chest  con- 
centric, are  everywhere  signs  of  physical  and 
psychic  weakness  and  suffering. 

With  three  agents  in  concentric  action,  viz., 
the  head,  torso,  and  shoulders,  we  have  the  lan- 
guage of  despair. 

(c.)  The  Mental  and  Emotive  blends,  or  composite  ges- 
tures, springing  from  the  Vital  genus,  are  full  of  expres- 
sion. 

Both  Delaumosne  and  Arnaud  have  called  the  shoulders 
the  thermometer  of  the  passional  life. 

This  seems  a  happy  term.  For  the  shoulders  seem  to  be 
a  veritable  register  of  the  intensity  of  passion.  In  the  heat 
of  passion  this  Vital  thermometer  marks  degrees.  Thus, 
slight  sensibility  is  indicated  by  slight  shoulder  movements. 
In  great  passions  the  shoulders  disclose  a  wonderful  freedom 
of  gesture ;  sometimes  the  shoulders  are  thrown  upwards  to 
the  ears. 

Sulky  and  obstinate  children  often  raise  high  the  shoulders. 
This  means  passionate  resistance. 

It  is  a  blend  of  the  Emotive  and  Vital  states.  In  ver- 
nacular there  is  truth.  The  street  gamin's  description  of 
his  fight  is  full  of  literal  and  exact  truth :  "I  got  my  back 
up,  humped  myself,  and  pitched  in  ! "  In  Sir  Charles  Bell's 
*  Anatomy  of  Expression,"  the  student  will  note  a  life-like 
figure  of  a  man  shrinking  back  in  abject  terror  from  some 
fearful  danger.  His  shoulders  are  lifted  to  his  ears,  and  the 
expression  of  intensity  strikes  the  observer. 


168  PHILOSOPHY  OE  EXPRESSION. 

And  Darwin  somewhere  quotes  from  that  close  observer  of 
human  moods,  the  authoress  of  "  The  Brownlows,"  this  de- 
scription of  a  youth  who  determines  not  to  obey :  — 

"  He  thrust  his  hands  deep  down  into  his  pockets,  and  set 
up  his  shoulders  to  his  ears,  as  much  as  to  say, '  Come  right, 
come  wrong,  this  rock  shall  fly  from  its  firm  base  as  soon  as 
Jack  would.'  "  But  as  soon  as  the  child  "  got  his  own 
way,"  he  put  his  shoulders  into  their  natural  position. 

A  blend  or  composite  gesture  of  the  shoulders, 
the  shrug,  has  great  significance. 

Vital  at  root,  it  shows  an  invasion  of  the  Men- 
tal nature.  The  Mental  rules  in  this  expression. 
It  is  rarely  used  in  high  Emotive  states.  It  al- 
most always  is  used  in  connection  with  turning 
outwards  the  hands  to  show  the  palms,  as  much 
as  to  say,  "  You  see  I  am  wholly  helpless !  "  So 
this  gesture  expresses  with  great  force  helpless- 
ness, inability,  impotence. 

It  presents  strongly  another  Mental  phase.  It 
is,  universally  among  the  Latin  races,  the  sym- 
bol of  patience.  Hence  the  artist's  term,  "  pa- 
tience muscles,"  applied  to  the  muscles  which 
raise  the  shoulders. 

Shakespeare  makes  Shylock  say  :  — 

"  Signior  Antonio,  many  a  time  and  oft, 
In  the  Rialto  you  have  rated  me 
About  my  moneys  and  my  usances ; 
Still  have  I  borne  it  with  a  patient  shrug; 
For  sufferance  is  the  badge  of  all  our  tribe." 

Reasoning  from  structure,  function,  and  util- 
ity, the  primary  and  natural  language  of  this 
agent  would  seem  to  be  Vital,  the  Mental  and 
Emotive  natures  disclosing  themselves  through 


THE  HAND  AND  ARM  IN  GESTURE.         169 

this  agent  as  blends  or  composites.  So  we  may 
have  from  the  shoulders  gestures  from  the  Vital 
nature  as  their  natural  and  primary  expression, 
and  blends  or  composite  gestures  showing  inva- 
sions from  the  Mental  and  Emotive  into  the  Vital 
Being. 

And  these  gestures,  like  those  of  all  the  agents, 
are  translated  through  three  primary  forms  of 
motion,  —  eccentric,  concentric,  and  poise,  —  and 
through  the  blends  or  composites  of  these  pri- 
mary forms. 

OF   THE    ELBOW. 

The  gestures  of  this  agent  are  Emotive  in  their 
significance. 

The  language  of  gestures  from  this  second 
centre  of  motion  of  the  fore-limb  is,  with  all 
mammals  save  man, Vital  in  significance.  In  all 
land  mammals  it  is  one  remove  from  the  centre 
of  motion  nearest  the  body,  and  in  most  it  is  the 
first  free  centre,  —  the  centre  nearest  the  body 
being  bound  closely  to  the  side. 

In  man  the  assumption  of  the  vertical  and  the 
liberation  of  the  fore-limbs  has  given  three  free 
centres. 

We  may  formulate  this  freedom  of  expressive 
man  thus :  — 

THE  FREEDOM  OF  THE  THREE  CENTRES. 

I.  The  Vital  moves  all  parts  of  the  arm  from 
the  centre  at  the  shoulder. 


170  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

HE.  The  Emotive  from  the  centre  at  the  el* 
bow. 

II.  The  Mental  from  the  centre  at  the  wrist. 

80,  the  Vital  nature  moves  the  greatest  mass, 
and  the  Mental  nature  the  least  mass. 

A  curious  relation  of  intelligence  to  mass  in 
a  mammal  is  seen  in  the  gestures  of  the  ear  of 
the  horse. 

(d.)  These  three  centres  translate  the  three  states  of  the 
Being.  The  Emotive  is  the  middle  term  in  the  applied 
logic  of  expression.  So  we  repeat  our  statement  that  the 
shoulder  manifests  the  Vital  nature,  the  wrist  the  Mental, 
and  the  elbow  (the  middle  centre  of  motion),  the  Emotive. 

And  this  agent,  as  all  the  other  agents,  has  three  primary 
motions  —  the  eccentric,  poise,  and  concentric  —  and  the 
blends  or  composites  of  these  primaries. 

We  give  the  language  of  the  three  primary 
gestures  of  this  agent :  — 

1.  The  elbow  in  poise  indicates  ease,  self- 
possession,  calmness,  an  equable  temper,  mod- 
esty. 

2.  The  elbow  eccentric  (turned  outwards)  in- 
dicates strength,  audacity,  arrogance,  abrupt- 
ness. 

3.  The   elbow   concentric  (turned  inwards) 
indicates  impotence,  constraint,  subordination, 
weakness,  humility. 

(e.)  The  student  will  note  that  these  inflections  are  im- 
mediate correspondences  and  reveal  the  state  of  the  Being 
that  dominates  consciousness  at  the  instant. 

Nor  should  these  gestures  be  taken  alone,  for  it  is 
through  the  aid  of  assisting  agents  that  the  gestures  of  any 
single  agent  get  their  highest  significance. 


THE  HAND  AND  ARM  IN  GESTURE.        171 

Thus,  in  the  instance  of  a  man  preparing  to  fight,  the 
torso,  head,  shoulders,  fists,  as  well  as  the  elbows,  are  ec- 
centric in  form  and  motion. 

The  nature  of  the  fight  he  is  about  to  enter  will  inevita- 
bly show  itself  through  the  comment  of  assisting  agents. 
The  finest  comment  from  the  Mental  and  higher  Emotive 
will  declare  itself  through  the  face,  and  the  comment  of  the 
Vital  will  be  shown  through  the  clenched  fist  (never  absent 
in  Vital  action)  and  the  firm  set  teeth  on  the  left  side  of  the 
mouth. 

Bulwer,  in  "  Kerielm  Chillingly,"  has  finely  made  this  dis- 
tinction between  Vital  and  higher  forms  of  aggressive  ac- 
tion. He  says  :  "  The  natural  desire  of  man  in  his  attri- 
bute as  fighting  animal  is  to  beat  his  adversary.  But  the 
natural  desire  of  that  culmination  of  man  which  we  call 
gentleman  is  to  beat  his  adversary/air^." 

We  may  then  decide  that  the  gestures  of  the 
elbow  are  at  root  Emotive  in  significance,  and 
that  the  Vital  and  Mental  natures  show  them- 
selves as  blends  or  composites. 

OF   THE   WRIST. 

The  wrist  is  the  centre  of  motion  for  the 
hand.  As  we  have  indicated  in  another  part  of 
this  work,  its  structure  conclusively  shows  that 
it  is  guide  and  directing  agent  for  the  hand. 

It  accumulates  the  motion  of  the  two  upper 
centres  and  reproduces  both  the  freedom  of  the 
shoulder  and  the  firmness  of  the  elbow.  In  con- 
nection with  the  rotary  motion  it  makes  possi- 
ble all  forms  of  presentation  of  the  hand.  We 
have  the  implied  authority  of  Mantegazza,  that 
the  language  of  the  wrist  is  Mental  in  signifi- 


172  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

cance.  Indeed,  its  pliability,  its  suppleness,  its 
directive  power,  its  wonderful  strength,  its  rela- 
tive position  to  the  elbow  and  shoulder,  all  tend 
to  confirm  the  conclusion  of  this  profound  ob- 
server. 

(/.)  The  student  hardly  needs  to  be  told  that  the  orator 
must  have  great  suppleness  and  freedom  at  the  wrist.  An 
awkward  wrist  will  spoil  a  graceful  hand.  Remember,  the 
grace  of  presentation  is  in  the  wrist. 

OF   THE    HAND. 

Next  the  face  the  hand  is  the  most  expressive 
agent  at  man's  command.  It  is  interpreter  of 
all  languages.  It  is  translator  of  all  tongues. 
With  the  aid  of  the  face  it  can  disclose  all 
moods  of  the  soul. 

And  its  structure  predicts  its  importance  in 
the  economy  of  art,  as  well  as  its  more  evident 
importance  in  the  economy  of  life. 

Let  us  formulate  these  points  of  structure :  — 

1.  The  hand  is  a  structure  forming  the  end 
of  a  pliant  chain  with  Jive  sensitive  lengths, 
and  capable  of  the  widest  and  freest  range  of 
motion. 

2.  The  bones  of  the  arm  and  hand  decrease 
in  length  and  size  from  the  shoulder  down- 
wards.     This   structure  gives  an  instrument 
capable  of  projecting  radial  lines  ;  each  seg- 
ment, from  the  shoulder  downwards  to  the  tips 
of  the  fingers,  forming  an  independent  radius. 

3.  As  the  bones  of  the  structure  decrease 


THE  HAND  AND  ARM  IN  GESTURE.        173 

in  length,  size,  and  strength,  the  muscles  and 
nerves  increase  in  complexity  and  distribution. 

Now,  given  such  an  instrument  —  capable  of 
executing  all  forms  of  motion — and  endowed  by 
its  nervous  structure  with  a  fine  sensibility;  and 
further,  set  this  instrument  out  and  away  from 
the  great  centres,  the  torso  and  the  head,  what 
would  a  philosopher  from  another  sphere  infer 
as  to  its  place  among  the  expressive  agents? 

"Ah!"  he  would  exclaim,  "such  a  formidable 
instrument  could  only  be  of  service  to  a  being 
of  high  endowments.  Such  a  being  would  make 
a  ready  acquaintance  with  its  environment,  and 
would  soon  outstrip  in  intelligence  all  other  be- 
ings bearing  the  same  general  structure." 

We  may  trace  man's  advance  from  brute  con- 
ditions in  these  successive  differentiations  of 
wrist,  palm,  thumb,  and  four  sensitive  lengths. 
No  correspondence  is  plainer  than  that  existing 
between  the  intelligence  and  the  hand.  The 
kind,  quality  and  amount  of  intelligence  in  the 
lower  animals  is  plainly  indicated  by  the  struc- 
ture of  the  part  answering  to  the  human  hand. 
Anaxagorus  said,  with  wonderful  prevision : 
"  Animals  would  have  been  men  had  they  had 
hands." 

(g.)  That  the  sense  of  touch  should  be  the  measure  of 
intelligence  in  the  animal  is  a  necessity  of  a  nervous  struc- 
ture acted  upon  hy  an  environment  of  matter  and  force. 

Herbert  Spencer  has  shown,  by  a  wonderful  chain  of  in- 
ductive reasoning  from  natural  facts,  that  in  the  sense  of 
touch  commenced  the  evolution  of  the  other  senses. 


174  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

In  touch,  we  still  find  our  strongest  verification  for  our 
other  sense  impressions. 

Take  a  few  examples  from  the  great  scientist's  illustra- 
tions. It  will  be  admitted  that,  among  birds,  parrots  show 
the  greatest  amount  of  intelligence.  This  difference  rests 
in  the  greater  development  of  the  tactual  organs.  Few 
birds  can  grasp  and  lift  an  object  with  one  foot  while  stand- 
ing upon  the  other.  The  parrot  does  this  with  ease.  The 
tongue,  too,  of  the  parrot  is  large,  free,  and  constantly  in 
use.  But,  more  than  all,  what  it  can  grasp  it  can  raise 
freely  to  its  beak,  so  it  easily  touches  with  beak  and  tongue 
what  its  hand  already  grasps. 

So  among  mammals,  as  a  general  rule,  those  whose  limbs 
terminate  in  digits  are  more  intelligent  than  those  with 
hoofs.  Thus  the  cat,  the  dog,  the  fox,  show  a  higher  intel- 
ligence than  the  ox,  the  sheep,  the  deer. 

Five  sensitive  toes  are  better  than  one  or  two  masses  of 
horn  to  receive  complex  impressions.  But  most  conclusive 
of  all  is  the  hand  of  the  half-reasoning  elephant.  The 
trunk  of  this  animal  proclaims  its  superior  sagacity.  It 
has  entire  freedom  of  pliant  movement.  It  can  project  its 
single  arm  into  space,  and  with  its  hand  touch  all  parts  of 
its  body.  With  its  hand  it  acquires  a  knowledge  of  form 
and  weight.  It  tests  the  strength  of  the  bridge  it  must 
cross.  It  gets  an  idea  of  motion  by  fanning  itself  with 
branches  of  trees  it  breaks  off ;  of  hydrostatics  and  aero- 
statics by  raising  and  throwing  water  over  its  back  and  by 
trumpeting  forth  blasts  of  air. 

In  the  anthropoids  points  of  structure  proclaim  the  ani- 
mal's limitations.  In  the  acts  of  prehension  and  locomo- 
tion the  anthropoid  is  greatly  superior  to  man.  All  the 
limbs  end  in  Vital  hands.  And  there  is  no  doubt  that  the 
ape  has  perceptions  of  size,  form,  hardness,  weight,  flexi- 
bility, and  tenacity.  Bound  to  the  Vital  zone,  its  expressions 
are  Vito- Vital  in  significance. 

We  may  conclude,  then,  from  our  considera- 
tion of  the  structure  of  the  instrument,  that  the 


THE  HAND  AND  ARM  IN  GESTURE.        175 

human  hand  will  disclose  a  vast  number  of  cor- 
respondences existing  between  the  soul,  the  body, 
and  the  remote  environment.  Hence  Delsarte 
said  of  the  hand  that  it  is  the  intermediate  agent 
of  the  Soul. 

In  disclosing  inner  states  we  have  called  the 
language  of  the  shoulder  Vital,  of  the  elbow 
Emotive,  of  the  wrist  Mental. 

Which  of  the  three  states  of  the  Being  does 
the  hand  disclose?  We  answer,  Each  and  the 
three.  Like  the  will  it  lends  itself  to  the  state 
of  the  Being  while  in  action.  And  we  may  say 
that  the  hand  is  the  intermediate  agent  in  bodily 
movements,  as  the  will  is  the  intermediate  agent 
of  the  three  states  of  the  Being. 

The  hand  epitomizes  the  body.  Like  the  body 
it  has  its  zones  or  divisions  through  which  the 
states  of  the  Being  seem  to  manifest  themselves 
by  preference. 

We  may  call  this  preference  of  the  Psychic 
for  a  certain  tract  of  the  hand,  or  of  any  other 
zone  of  the  body,  the  natural  language  of  that 
division.  So  we  may  say  without  violence  that 
the  natural  language  of  the  head  is  Mental,  of 
the  torso  Emotive,  of  the  limbs  Vital.  And  we 
shall  find  ample  grounds  for  like  conclusions  in 
regard  to  the  language  of  the  hand. 

We  make  a  threefold  division.  The  palm  is 
Emotive,  the  thumb  is  Vital,  the  forefinger  is 
Mental ;  the  second  and  third  (the  ring  finger), 
taken  together,  are  Emotive,  and  the  little  finger 
is  sensitively  Mental 


176  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

Let  us  consider  these  tracts  of  the  hand  sepa- 
rately. We  will  make  our  observations  from 
three  points  of  view :  (1.)  Through  points  of 
structure  and  function.  (2.)  Through  suggested 
correspondences.  (3.)  Through  modes  of  mo- 
tion. 

OF   THE   PALM. 

We  have  declared  the  natural  language  of  the 
palm  Emotive.  Let  us  see  if  we  can  find  good 
reason  for  giving  this  large  tract  of  the  hand  to 
the  Emotive  Being. 

(1.)  Structure.  The  microscope  is  said  to  dis- 
close the  fact  that  the  pores  of  the  skin  are  more 
numerous  in  the  palm  than  in  any  other  region 
of  the  hand. 

Function.  Through  the  pores  of  the  skin  a 
large  amount  of  waste  matter  is  thrown  off. 

(2.)  Correspondence.  These  facts  of  structure 
and  function  would  seem  to  give  a  physical  and 
structural  basis  for  the  widely  entertained  idea 
that  emanations  from  our  affectional  or  spirit- 
ual natures  go  forth  from  the  palms  of  the 
hands  more  copiously  than  from  any  other  part 
of  the  body. 

(h.)  The  student  will  note  how  general  and  wide-spread 
are  these  correspondences,  founded  in  structure  and  func- 
tion. Thus  the  laying  on  of  hands,  to  signify  the  giving  of 
spiritual  force,  has  been  a  leading  ceremony  in  all  the  great 
religions  of  the  world.  The  placing  of  the  palms  upon  the 
head,  in  blessing,  has  been  the  strongest  token  of  affection 
with  the  leading  races  of  mankind.  Jacob  and  Christ 
blessed  with  the  hands.  The  closing  exercise  in  our 


THE  HAND  AND  ARM  IN  GESTURE.        177 

churches  is  not  an  unmeaning  one ;  the  willing  of  good  with 
extended  arras  and  open  palms  upon  the  whole  people  is 
beneficent  giving.  Add  the  outgoing  breath  to  the  palm 
turned  outward,  and  you  have  the  spiritual  blessing  the  hu- 
man.1 

(3.)  Motion.  The  presentation  of  the  palm  is 
full  of  significance.  Through  structure  and  mo- 
tion the  palm  is  enabled  to  make  three  presenta- 
tions :  1.  The  palm  prone.  2.  Supine.  3.  Ver- 
tical. Each  of  these  presentations  speaks  its  own 
language.  Each  is  a  revelation  of  the  Psychic. 

The  natural  language  of  the  prone  palm  is  re- 
pression ;  of  the  supine,  releasing  or  giving ;  of 
the  vertical,  repelling. 

The  supine  permits.  It  says :  "  Yes,  take,  I 
give."  The  prone  prohibits.  It  says  :  "  No,  I 
forbid."  The  vertical  repels.  It  says :  "  Go, 
I  push  you  away."  Again  :  the  supine  is  impul- 
sive, the  prone  compulsive,  the  vertical  repel- 
ling. 

The  right  hand  uplifted,  palm  vertical,  epito- 
mizes both  body  and  Being.  It  represents  both 
the  exterior  and  the  interior  as  one.  It  says : 
"I  take  this  oath.  I  solemnly  swear.  I  call 
God  to  witness  and  so  manifest,  or  show  my  hand 

1  We  find  in  the  most  recent  treatise  upon  the  Delsarte  system, 
Miss  Gene  vie  ve  Stebbins'  book  (see  p.  89),  that  the  natural  language 
of  the  palm  is  given  as  Vital.  This  is  supposed,  also,  to  be  Mr.  Steele 
Mackaye's  idea.  We  quote  Miss  Stebbins:  "The  palm  is  Vital  in 
nature,  revelatory  in  expression. " 

From  the  first  part  of  this  statement  we  feel  obliged  to  dissent  for 
reasons  just  stated.     With  the  second  part  of  the  proposition  we  can 
agree;  if  the  word  "revelatory"  (newly  introduced  into  the  English 
language  by  the  authoress)  be  a  synonym  for  "revealing." 
12 


178  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

openly,  to  signify  that  my  whole  Being  is  in  the 


act." 

Thus  we  conclude  the  language  of  the  palm  to 
be  Emotive  in  its  significance. 

OF   THE    THUMB. 

Structure.  A  glance  at  the  structure  of  the 
thumb  discloses  its  natural  language.  It  is  Vi- 
tal. It  possesses  the  strength  of  all  the  fingers. 
Its  bones  are  larger  than  those  of  the  other 
lengths.  It  has  greater  compactness,  in  that  it 
has  but  two  lengths  and  two  joints  instead  of 
three.  .  It  is  bound  firmly  to  the  side  of  the  hand, 
and  receives  and  communicates  the  rotary  motion 
of  the  elbow.  It  easily  opposes  and  touches  the 
extremes  of  each  finger,  and  can  describe  two 
half  circles,  —  one  by  a  movement  from  its  own 
centre,  the  other  by  a  movement  in  connection 
with  the  motion  from  the  centre  at  the  elbow. 

Its  fleshy  ball  is  the  distinguishing  character- 
istic of  the  human  thumb.  Indeed,  this  muscle 
may  be  said  to  make  the  extremity  human.  The 
chimpanzee,  whose  hand  is  nearest  human,  is 
bound  to  the  Vital  by  the  fatal  limitation  of  a 
dwarfed  thumb  and  ball. 

Finally,  structure  indicates  that,  through  posi- 
tion, size,  free  lateral  movement,  perfect  mobility, 
power  to  oppose  itself  to  the  more  sensitive 
lengths,  the  thumb  may  be  classed  as  Vital  in 
significance. 

Correspondences.  The  correspondences  that 
have  crept  into  language  are  significant. 


THE  HAND  AND  ARM  IN  GESTURE.         179 

We  say  of  a  human  tool  that  he  was  completely 
"  under  the  thumb  "  of  the  man  who  used  him. 
The  Roman  nobles,  sitting  in  state  at  the  glad- 
iatorial shows,  showed  mercy  by  turning  the 
thumb. 

If  they  decreed  the  death  of  the  prostrate  glad- 
iator, they  held  up  their  thumbs  in  the  air.  The 
thumb  turned  down  was  the  signal  to  save  him. 

(i.)  Shakespeare  makes  the  witches  in  Macbeth  scent  evil 
through  the  thumbs  '.  — 

"  By  the  pricking1  of  my  thumbs 
Something  wicked  this  way  comes." 

And  so  the  servants  of  the  two  rival  houses  of  Montague 
and  Capulet  showed  their  vital  hatred  :  — 

" '  Do  you  bite  your  thumb  at  us  ?  ' 
*  I  do  bite  my  thumb ! '  " 

The  thumb  is  the  Vital  agent  of  the  will. 
When  the  two  other  agents  of  the  will  act  with 
it,  it  is  well  to  retire  from  the  contest !  For  the 
corrugators  that  mark  vertical  wrinkles  upon  the 
forehead  between  the  eyes  is  will  manifesting 
from  the  Emoto-Mental  Being.  And  now,  if  the 
canine  teeth  meet  with  lips  tense,  we  have  will 
born  of  the  carnivora,  —  the  most  animal  of  our 
expressions  of  will.  This  last  expression  we  may 
call  Vito- Vital. 

OF   THE   FINGERS. 

Structure.  We  have  already  indicated,  per- 
haps at  sufficient  length,  the  points  of  structure 
of  the  fingers.  From  the  shoulder  downwards 


180  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

the  bones  have  decreased  in  length,  and  the  mus* 
cles  and  nerves  have  increased  in  fineness  and 
complexity.  We  have  now  reached  in  these  five 
sensitive  lengths,  the  fingers,  a  great  physical 
complexity  of  bones,  muscles,  and  nerves. 

To  add  to  its  sensitiveness  and  delicacy  of 
discrimination,  each  finger  has  a  little  knot  of 
nerves  upon  its  inner  extremity,  fibres  of  which 
intertwine  with  the  fibres  of  the  muscles. 

This  uniting  of  the  Psychic  with  matter  is  not 
without  significance. 

So  we  unhesitatingly  say  that  while  the  thumb 
is  Vital  these  sensitive  lengths  will  disclose  the 
Mental  and  Emotive  states  of  the  Being.  And 
this  truth  is  illustrated  by  their  manifestations. 
In  gesture,  the  thumb  adds  its  Vital  language  to 
the  Mental  and  Emotive  language  of  the  fingers. 
This  accounts  for  the  fact  that  everywhere  the 
language  of  the  fist  means  the  same  thing.  It 
signifies  conflict  the  world  over.  For,  note,  the 
thumb,  which  is  Vital,  binds  the  first  and  second 
fingers,  which  are  Mental  and  Emotive.  The 
gesture  is  a  reflection  from  that  "  early  morning 
of  the  race,"  when  disputes  sought  the  ready  ar- 
bitration of  brute  and  naked  force. 

(j.)  The  author  of  this  treatise  fancies  that  Delsarte  be- 
gan his  observations  upon  human  expression  by  noticing  two 
gestures  so  universal  in  all  races  of  men,  more  especially 
advanced  races,  as  to  compel  the  inference  of  a  determinate 
cause  underlying  the  phenomena. 

These  gestures  are  :  1.  The  closing  of  the  lids  of  the  eyes. 
2.  The  use  of  the  forefinger  in  argumentative  states.  The 


THE  HAND  AND  ARM  IN  GESTURE.         181 

gestures  of  the  forefinger  are  Mental  in  significance.  Mark 
the  disposition  of  the  fingers  in  this  gesture :  The  thumb 
(Vital)  bends  inwards,  and  places  its  sensitive  ball  upon  the 
nail  of  the  second  finger  (Emotive),  partly  covering  it.  The 
third  and  fourth  fingers  bend  slightly  inwards.  But  note, 
the  little  finger  (Sensitive-Mental)  slightly  separates  itself 
from  the  third  finger,  and  presents  itself  nearly  straight  and 
parallel  with  the  forefinger. 

Thus  the  Being  has  manifested  its  three  states, 
and  in  this  order  :  Vital,  Mental,  Emotive,  Sen- 
sitive-Mental. 

The  gesture  of  the  forefinger  is  the  gesture  of 
the  Mental  man.  The  Intellect  is  in  full  force 
and  action.  It  is  analyzing,  separating,  selecting, 
noting  resemblances  and  differences.  What  the 
man  feels  is  held  in  abeyance.  In  his  gestures 
he  only  frees  the  forearm ;  when  he  feels  deeply 
he  will  free  the  whole  arm.  When  he  wills 
strongly,  and  against  formidable  opposition,  he 
will  knot  the  thumb  and  fingers  to  make  the  end 
of  a  club  with  which  to  strike. 

Mental  sensitiveness  and  finesse  rest  in  the 
finger-tips.  Take  an  illustration  :  A  great  met- 
aphysician is  arguing  and  enforcing  some  nice 
point  in  the  philosophy  of  Kant  or  Hegel.  "  Pure 
reason,"  or  "  The  essence  of  the  Being,"  is  his 
theme.  Note  him  carefully.  See  !  he  uses  now 
both  hands.  He  applies  the  sensitive  ball  of  one 
finger  to  the  sensitive  nerve  knot  of  another,  or 
he  taps  the  palm  of  his  left  hand  with  the  fore- 
finger of  his  right.  Note  him  now !  He  is  sum- 
ming up  in  close  logical  terms.  You  observe  that 


182  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

he  links  together  his  fingers  in  chains.  He  uses 
both  hands  to  make  these  chains.  Now  it  is  fore- 
finger and  thumb  that  are  linked,  now  little  finger 
and  thumb.  And  now,  in  the  refinement  of  Men- 
tal conclusion,  he  holds  up  in  full  view  the  left 
hand,  and  opposes  the  tips  of  the  little  fingers. 
Nothing  can  be  more  conclusive  than  this  meet- 
ing of  correspondences  at  the  finger  tips.  He 
warms  to  the  subject,  and,  taking  the  palm  as 
a  tablet,  he  strikes  little  blows  upon  it  with  the 
forefinger  in  his  more  forcible  moods,  and  with 
his  little  finger  when  he  would  express  nice  and 
critical  distinctions.  But  now  he  strikes  the  palm 
with  his  fist,  freeing  the  full  arm,  and  you  know 
that  a  blend  of  the  Vital  and  Emotive  natures 
has  leaped  into  the  saddle  and  seized,  for  the  in- 
stant, the  reins  of  consciousness. 

And  so  this  great  agent  of  human  expression, 
the  hand,  epitomizes  the  three  natures  of  man. 
Thus  the  Outer  discloses  the  Inner. 

(&.)  We  cannot  leave  this  great  agent  of  the  Soul,  the 
hand,  without  some  reference  to  its  significance  as  an  art 
form ;  epitomizing  the  elements  of  the  highest  beauty  in  its 
symmetry  and  proportion,  and  the  harmony  of  the  highest 
gracefulness  in  its  motion. 

Artists  agree  that  no  part  of  the  human  body  is  so  diffi- 
cult to  represent  as  the  hand.  Said  Grimm :  "  Nothing 
makes  us  so  certain,  at  the  first  glance,  where  an  artist  stands 
as  his  manner  of  forming  the  hands." 

The  human  hand  is  in  form  an  harmonious  whole ;  for  it 
presents  the  two  elements  of  beauty  according  to  the  dictum 
of  Aristotle.  It  gives  (1)  Uniformity  through  its  straight 
lines,  and  (2)  Diversity  through  its  curves. 


THE  HAND  AND  ARM  IN  GESTURE.        183 

The  fingers  are  straight  lines,  but  how  easily  they  glide 
into  curves  I  Note  a  few  of  the  curves :  (1.)  The  curved 
line  leading  from  the  inner  wrist  to  the  first  joint  of  the  little 
finger.  (2.)  The  curves  of  the  large  muscle  of  the  thumb. 
(3.)  The  curves  of  the  hemispheres  at  the  ends  of  the  fingers. 
(4.)  The  curves  of  the  shields,  —  the  finger-nails. 

Note  the  element  of  variety  introduced  by  the  difference 
in  the  length  of  the  fingers.  These  lengths  are  made  sensi- 
tive to  the  highest  degree  by  the  knots  of  nerve  matter  which 
lie  underneath  the  skin  of  the  ball  of  each  finger. 

In  effect,  this  little  knot  of  nerves  puts  the  Psychic  at  the 
finger-tips  whenever  art  forms  are  to  be  produced.  For 
there  is  a  systematic  arrangement  and  a  sympathetic  agree- 
ment of  parts  from  the  shoulder  to  the  tips  of  the  fingers. 
Intensity  in  the  shoulders ;  firmness  in  the  elbows ;  strength 
in  the  wrist ;  finesse  in  the  fingers. 

So  the  hand,  with  Reason  to  guide  it,  makes  all  mechanics 
possible. 

We  have  called  attention  to  its  structure  of  bones,  joints, 
muscles,  and  nerves.  Strength  and  solidity  characterize  the 
lower  limbs ;  but  twenty-nine  bones,  arranged  in  segments, 
covered  with  pliant  muscles  vitalized  by  roadways  of  nerves, 
make  the  most  formidable  instrument  at  man's  command. 

How  this  wonderful  instrument  has  helped  enforce  corre- 
spondences with  the  globe  we  shall  attempt  to  unfold  in  our 
next  chapter,  to  which  we  ask  the  student's  most  serious 
attention. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

FURTHER    CONSIDERATIONS. THE   REALM    OF 

CORRESPONDENCE    IN    GESTURE. 

THE  great  masters  of  primary  instruction 
founded  their  methods  upon  the  science  of  Space, 
—  Geometry. 

In  this  they  took  the  plain  road  that  the  nature 
of  the  child  pointed  out.  They  taught,  first,  les- 
sons of  Form,  by  letting  the  child  see,  handle, 
and  trace  the  surfaces  of  objects. 

Froebel  used  the  cube  and  the  ball;  Pesta- 
lozzi,  the  square  and  the  circle;  Herbart,  the 
triangle. 

And  this  old  method  is  now  again  the  new 
method.  It  was  always  Nature's  method.  Said 
these  great  teachers  of  children  :  "  Let  these  lit- 
tle ones  touch,  see,  handle,  give  motion  to,  test 
resistance  of,  count  with,  add  to,  subtract  from, 
material  objects."  They  placed  the  ladder  on 
the  earth,  and  put  the  child's  foot  upon  the  first 
rung,  and  turned  his  face  towards  the  horizon. 

They  knew  that  as  surely  as  the  plant  grows 
toward  the  light,  so  surely  the  Being  of  the  child 
would  climb  towards  the  spiritual.  So  Froebel 
epitomized  his  philosophy  of  education  when  he 


THE  REALM  OF   CORRESPONDENCE.         185 

said :  "  I  use  these  objects,  and  let  the  children 
have  them,  that  they  may  become  to  them,  at  the 
last,  forms  of  life,  truth,  and  beauty."  And  this 
is  the  most  essential  service  that  physical  science 
can  render  humanity ;  to  show  that,  everywhere 
and  always,  the  material  types  the  spiritual,  and 
that  no  manifestation  can  be  unless  a  somewhat 
manifests.  For  these  forms  and  forces  of  matter 
lead  not  to  a  blank  wall !  They  are  the  outer 
phenomena  of  the  inner  life.  And  could  we  push 
inference  —  that  faculty  of  the  mind  which  cor- 
responds with  physical  seeing  —  far  enough,  we 
should  see  with  this  wider  vision  that  all  Expres- 
sion rests  in  the  great  Law  of  Correspondence, 
recognized  as  the  foundations  of  their  respective 
systems  of  philosophy  by  Plato,  Oken,  Goethe, 
Swedenborg,  Wordsworth,  and  Emerson,  and 
practically  applied  by  such  great  teachers  as 
Froebel,  Pestalozzi,  and  Francke. 

(a.)  We  may  restate  the  Law  of  Correspondence,  which 
the  student  will  find  considered  more  at  length  upon  p.  56 
of  this  treatise  :  — 

Law :  Man  expresses  his  psychic  states  in  the  terms  of  his 
environment.  These  terms  are  related  to,  and  correspond 
with,  Space,  Time,  and  Motion. 

Or  we  may  make  another  statement  of  the  Law :  — 

The  Outer  (matter),  with  its  forms  and  forces,  is  type 
and  symbol  of  the  Inner  (Psychic),  and  is  its  correspond- 
ence. 

The  broadest  interpretation  of  this  law  is  that  all  forms 
of  matter,  whether  organic  or  inorganic,  disclose  the  Psychic 
directly  or  remotely. 

See  how  far-reaching  is  our  conclusion.    The  Universe  of 


186  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

matter,  presented  as  phenomena,  is  Outer;   God  is  Inner. 
Behold  the  Macrocosm ! 

And  by  parity  of  reasoning,  justified  by  deductions  from 
the  most  advanced  science  of  to-day,  the  human  body  is 
Outer,  the  Psychic  is  Inner.  Behold  the  Microcosm ! 

Let  us  consider,  with  what  degree  of  definite- 
ness  we  may  be  able  to  command,  certain  corre- 
spondences, founded  "  in  the  nature  of  things," 
that  go  to  make  the  gestures  of  the  hand  and 
arm  so  expressive.  Let  us  reiterate  what  we 
have  before  said,  that  the  Soul  finds  its  direct 
and  open  correspondence  in  the  body ;  hence,  we 
have  called  the  body  its  near  environment.  It 
finds  its  indirect  and  more  subtle  correspondence 
in  all  things  else.  All  things  else,  then,  we  have 
called  its  remote  environment. 

It  was  a  happy  phrase  of  Delsarte,  that  the 
hand  is  the  intermediate  agent  of  the  Soul.  The 
expressions  of  all  the  other  agents  are  intensified 
through  its  action.  It  reinforces  their  language. 
With  truth  we  may  say  that  only  as  the  hand 
became  human  did  it  begin  to  be  used  to  inter- 
pret remote  correspondences.  Only  nebulous 
ideas  of  what  filled  the  upper  and  nether  voids 
crept  into  the  mind  of  the  half-human  represen- 
tative of  the  quaternary  period. 

And  the  savage  of  to-day  peers  into  the  spaces 
above  him,  and,  pointing  with  his  hand,  says : 
"  Up  there  are  the  goods  and  the  gods  !  "  And 
pointing  towards  the  earth's  centre,  he  says : 
"  Down  there  are  the  evils  and  the  devils ! " 


THE  REALM  OF  CORRESPONDENCE.         187 

Then  sweeping  the  line  of  the  horizon  with 
eyes  and  hands,  and  looking  outward  from  his 
body,  he  says :  "  Here  and  roundabout  are  the 
things  that  are,  —  trees,  mountains,  plains,  rivers, 
horses,  buffaloes,  enemies,  and  myself !  "  Admi- 
rable savage !  Admirable  philosophy,  and  most 
competent,  based  as  it  is  upon  the  universal  tes- 
timony of  the  senses  !  The  civilized  child  agrees 
with  you ;  and  as  we  all  came  along  the  road  of 
childhood  we  all  agree  with  you !  For  have  you 
not  fixed,  inexorably,  relations,  analogies,  and  cor- 
respondences, so  that  for  all  time  to  come  men 
shall  speak  out  their  Vital  survey  of  things  in 
your  language,  —  the  language  of  what  seems 
to  be? 

In  the  preceding  two  chapters  we  have  at- 
tempted to  give  the  rationale  of  this  our  first 
and  most  persistent  correspondence,  always  and 
ever  present  to  us.  Let  us  enforce  our  argument 
by  the  use  of  the  figure  of  the  globe. 

(b.)  At  the  risk  of  repeating  ideas  that  we  have  given  in 
another  form,  and  in  another  part  of  our  treatise,  but  to 
make  plain  a  central  point  in  our  discussion,  we  ask  the  stu- 
dent's close  attention  to  the  following  statements :  — 

(1.)  It  is  impossible  to  give  free  play  in  all  directions  to 
the  hand  and  arm  without  producing  a  series  of  curved 
lines. 

(2.)  The  widest  and  freest  sweep  of  the  instrument  de- 
scribes arcs  of  circles  ;  and  these  arcs  described  by  both  arms 
project  the  figure  of  a  globe. 

(3.)  Through  the  limitations,  fixed  in  structure,  the  hand 
and  arm  projects  the  globe,  and  thus  becomes  the  fit  instru- 
ment of  the  correspondences  of  two  worlds. 

Through  the  action  of  the  nervous  system  it  becomes  in- 


188 


PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 


evitable  that  what  we  receive  as  impressions  we  give  forth  as 
expressions. 

The  visible  hemisphere  has  most  constantly  impressed 
man's  senses.  He  will  therefore  state  his  Vital,  Mental, 
and  Emotive  correspondences  in  terms  of  the  globe. 

Head,  torso,  hand,  face,  voice,  speech,  every  agent  of  ex- 
pression, must  conform  to  this  central  law. 

It  is  not  without  reason  that  the  old  metaphysicians  made 
the  globe  the  symbol  of  wholeness  and  entirety.  We  ask 
the  student  to  most  carefully  ponder  the  correspondences 
existing  between  the  objective  and  subjective  worlds,  as  illus- 
trated by  the  figure  of  the  globe. 

THE  LAW  OF  CORRESPONDENCE  ILLUSTRATED  BY 
THE  REVELATIONS  AND  IMPLICATIONS  OF  THE 
GLOBE. 


Light  and  Love. 


(6.)  Zone  of  the 
Superior. 


(c.)  Zone  of 

the  Inferior.     >.  o 


Darkness  and  Hate. 


THE  REALM  OF  CORRESPONDENCE.         189 


EXPLANATORY   NOTES. 

(a.)  THE  ZONE  OF  EQUALITY.  —  Of  the  three  zones  of 
the  subjective  world,1  man  alone  inhabits  and  corresponds 
with  each.  Animals  —  even  those  nearest  him  in  physical 
structure  —  bound  by  instinct  inhabit  only  the  Zone  of 
Equality.  This  zone  we  might  call  the  zone  of  the  Vital. 

Here  the  body,  as  organized  matter  in  form,  maintains 
its  equilibrium  with  its  environment.  It  lives.  This  zone 
is  the  zone  of  the  objective  real,  and  of  its  subjective  coun- 
terpart, the  ideal.  This  is  true  only  with  man.  To  no 
other  animal  is  there  a  subjective  correspondence  definite 
enough  to  be  called  ideal. 

Here  are  the  objects  that  we  may  know  by  handling  and 
by  the  reports  of  our  other  senses. 

This  is  the  zone  of  man's  greatest  activities  connected 
with  matter. 

(b.)  THE  ZONE  OF  THE  SUPERIOR.  —  The  spaces  above 
the  Zone  of  Equality,  above  the  tops  of  the  mountains 
whither  primitive  man  could  climb,  are  the  Zone  of  the 
Superior. 

So  far  as  we  know,  or  have  any  record,  there  is  no  race 
of  men  which  has  not  associated,  in  some  dim  way,  the  up- 
per spaces  with  well-being. 

There,  in  the  upper  space,  was  the  "  Heofon  "  (the  up- 
heaved) of  our  Saxon  ancestors.  There,  the  abode  of  war- 
riors and  heroes  who  had  fought  well  on  earth.  There, 
absence  of  all  ills  and  discomfiture  of  all  enemies. 

When  Christianity  had  leavened  this  Saxon  savage,  there 
he  placed  God,  the  angels,  and  the  saints. 

And  so  strong  is  this  instinctive  leading  in  our  natures 
that  there  in  the  upheaved  are  the  "  many  mansions  "  pre- 
pared from  the  foundations  of  the  world.  There  the  loved 
and  lost  with  light  in  their  faces  await  us.  Ah !  the  analo- 
gies and  correspondences  of  the  Zone  of  the  Superior  are 

1  The  student  is  referred  to  page  145  of  this  treatise  for  a  fuller 
discussion  of  the  correspondences  of  the  two  worlds. 


190  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

pathetic,  and  how  enduring !  What  wonder  that  gestures 
of  face,  hand,  and  voice  are  so  instinctively  bound  to  this 
region  of  the  beatitudes  ! 

(c.)  THE  ZONE  OF  THE  INFERIOR. — To  primitive  man 
what  was  beneath  the  surface  of  the  earth  was  hidden  and 
unknown.  Before  he  had  an  idea  that  he  lived  upon  a 
round  ball  he  located  the  obscure,  the  harmful,  the  evil, 
downwards  in  the  bowels  of  the  earth.  The  evil  mysterious 
dwelt  in  the  nether  voids  and  caves,  as  the  good  mysterious 
dwelt  in  the  clear  light  of  the  upheaved.  Doubtless  the 
darkness  of  caverns  and  the  smoke  and  fire  from  the  cra- 
ters of  volcanoes  strongly  wrought  upon  the  imagination  of 
the  primitive  races  of  men. 

So  in  the  underneath  they  built  the  abodes  of  the  evils 
and  the  devils. 

Appealing  to  this  crude  but  universal  instinct  that  builds 
objective  correspondences  of  subjective  states,  Dante  con- 
structed his  Inferno  and  Milton  his  Hell. 

So  the  two  grandest  poems  written  by  man  have  peopled 
the  nether  spaces  with  their  gigantic  imagery !  With  such 
a  fearful  leading  as  Nature  has  given  in  the  apprehensions 
of  man,  is  it  strange  that  our  gestures  should  enforce  our 
darkest  passions  by  correspondences  with  the  Zone  of  the 
Inferior  ? 

We  thus  see  how  inevitable  it  is  that  man 
shall  express  himself  in  terms  of  the  globe. 
Continually  impressed  by  the  visible  hemisphere 
and  by  the  restrictions  of  Space,  Time,  and  Mo- 
tion, he  will  inevitably  express  himself  in  the 
terms  of  his  environment ;  and  if  we  had  the 
power  to  formulate  these  expressions,  we  should 
reach  that  ultimate  ground  upon  which  a  science 
and  art  of  expression  would  securely  rest. 

We  are  able,  then,  to  state  broadly,  and  with 
all  the  force  of  law,  that  our  gestures  repro- 


THE  REALM  OF  CORRESPONDENCE.         191 

duce  the  elements  of  Form  and  Motion  in  corre- 
spondence with  Space  and  Time,  and  from  neces- 
sity. 

Expressive  man  reproduces,  through  form 
and  motion,  correspondences  of  his  psychic 
states  in  exact  terms  of  the  globe.1 

We  ask  attention  to  a  few  of  the  correspond- 
ences which  root  themselves  in  our  ideas  of 
Space : — 

Gestures  of  the  hand  and  arm  sweeping 
through  wide  spaces  indicate  grandeur,  large- 
ness, comprehensiveness. 

(1.)  Through  wide  spaces  of  the  Zone  of 
Equality,  reference  to  great  material  or  social 
interests. 

(2.)  Through  wide  spaces  of  the  Zone  of  the 
Superior,  the  greatness  and  grandeur  of  ethical 
and  spiritual  interests  connected  with  man's 
well-being. 

(3.)  Through  wide  spaces  from  the  Zone  of 
the  Superior  through  the  Zone  of  Equality  and 
ending  in  the  Zone  of  the  Inferior,  the  rejection 
of  things  that  oppress. 

Thus  the  space  we  sweep  through  with  the 
hand  and  arm  becomes  a  measure  of  the  great- 
ness and  comprehensiveness  of  our  ideas. 

Let  us  note  the  correspondences  existing  from 
our  ideas  of  time  as  indicated  by  gesture  :  — 

1  How  evident  the  foundation  for  the  Nine  Laws  of  Gesture  ac- 
credited to  Delsarte,  — how  natural  the  confusion  as  to  their  number 
and  order  existing  among  his  disciples  I 


192  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

(1.)  Gestures  sweeping  through  long  arcs  in 
slow  time  correspond  with  poise  of  the  Being. 
They  have  dignity,  majesty,  and  strength  in 
composure. 

(2.)  Gestures  sweeping  through  long  arcs 
with  quick  motion  add  intensity  to  majesty 
and  strength. 

They  lose  in  poise  and  dignity,  but  gain  in 
power  and  strength.  They  show  an  invasion 
from  the  Vital  side  of  the  Being. 

(3.)  Gestures  sweeping  through  long  arcs, 
and  ending  in  attitudes  that  draw  the  body 
upward  along  the  vertical  line,  disclose  the 
Emotive  Being  manifesting  its  highest  moods 
of  power  and  strength. 

Thus  the  Inner  corresponds  with  the  Outer. 
The  physical  agents  moving  through  space  in 
time  indicate  the  quality,  amount,  and  intensity 
of  the  psychic  energy. 

(c.)  The  student  will  note  that  in  the  law  of  correspond- 
ence is  found  the  only  justification  for  such  empirical  state- 
ments as  are  accredited  by  his  followers  to  Delsarte.  Take, 
for  example,  this  statement  of  "  The  Law  of  Velocity :  "  — 

The  velocity  of  gesture  is  in  proportion  to  the  mass  moved 
and  the  power  moving. 

Read  this  in  terms  of  correspondence,  and  we  can  readily 
see  that  wide  effects  of  gesture  and  voice  must  accompany 
grand  conceptions. 

Here  we  find  the  root  of  the  art  of  burlesque.  Bur- 
lesque is  the  art  of  giving  ideas  a  disproportionate  setting 
forth,  so  we  have  the  antithesis  of  grand  gestures  with  so- 
norous voice  fitted  to  a  trivial  theme,  or  perhaps  a  grand 
theme  treated  with  trifling  and  inconsequent  voice  and  ac- 


THE  REALM  OF  CORRESPONDENCE.         193 

tion.     Shakespeare  sensed  the  true  law  of  values  and  pro- 
portions when  he  wrote  :  — 

"  Suit  the  action  to  the  word, 
And  the  word  to  the  action : "  — 

which  was  a  unique  way  of   enforcing  outer  correspond- 
ences of  inner  conditions. 

The  hand  and  arm,  as  a  necessity  of  struc- 
ture, projects  and  traces  arcs  of  circles  from 
three  centres  of  motion.  Each  of  these  arcs  has 
its  psychic  significance  rooted  in  the  correspond- 
ences of  the  sphere,  as  form,  and  with  the  oscil- 
lations of  the  pendulum,  as  motion.  These  arcs 
may  be  traced  in  both  vertical  and  horizontal 
directions,  and  by  the  sweep  of  the  instrument 
from  either  of  the  three  centres.  The  arc 
traced  by  the  hand  and  arm  moved  from  the 
centre,  at  the  shoulder,  will  have  the  greatest 
sweep,  and  hence  will  show  correspondences  with 
the  grandest  moods  of  the  Soul. 

Gestures  moving  through  wide  spaces  and 
in  slow  time  express  the  poise  of  the  Vital, 
JZmotive,  and  Mental  natures. 

The  arcs  traced  from  the  centre  of  motion  at 
the  elbow  are  smaUer,  as  the  pendulum  sweep  is 
through  less  space.  As  will  be  inferred,  they 
express  largely  blends  of  Emotive  and  Mental 
states. 

Arcs  traced  from  the  wrist  centre  are  still 
smaller.  They  express  mainly  the  comment  of 
the  Mental  upon  things  near  at  hand.  They  ob- 
serve, separate,  and  discriminate,  and  by  the  aid 

13 


194  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

of  the  fingers  express  Mental  sensitiveness  and 
nice  discernment. 

Thus  man9  in  reproducing  in  Space  and  Time, 
through  nervo-muscular  motion,  these  arcs  of 
the  sphere,  prophesies  the  unrestricted;  so,  he 
allies  himself  with  the  Infinite  and  the  Unre- 
stricted. Thus  is  the  Hebrew  Scripture  justi- 
fied in  its  sublime  declaration  that  Man  was 
made  after  the  likeness  of  God. 

We  cannot  leave  our  "  Realm  of  Correspond- 
ence "  without  reference  to  the  correspondences 
wrought  into  our  very  Being — to  appear  through 
life  as  expressions — by  the  most  formidable  and 
far-reaching  of  Nature's  agencies,  itself  the  cor- 
respondence of  the  constant  and  the  inevitable. 

We  refer  to  the  great  Law  of  Gravitation. 
From  earliest  childhood  we  have  been  impressed 
by  the  phenomena  of  gravitation.  Our  childish 
comment  stopped  short  at  appearances.  Things 
heavy  fell  to  the  ground  or  were  hard  to  lift 
from  it.  Things  light  floated  in  the  air.  The 
heavier  the  body  the  quicker  it  fell,  the  lighter 
the  slower  its  fall. 

Now,  this  lesson  of  the  gravities  of  things  is 
straightway  and  constantly  reproduced  in  ges- 
ture. What  are  these  inevitable  correspondences 
but  the  effort  of  the  Psychic  to  give  values  ? 
Let  us  imagine  any  agent,  say  hand  and  arm,  or 
muscles  of  the  face,  set  in  motion  through  psy- 
chic energy  and  describing  arcs  in  certain  direc- 
tions, through  certain  spaces,  and  in  certain 


THE  REALM  OF  CORRESPONDENCE.        195 

times,  and  the  following  correspondences  are  in- 
evitable :  — 

(1.)  Downward  gestures  correspond  with 
our  earnest,  emphatic,  and  most  important 
moods. 

The  height  from  which  the  gesture  falls  in- 
dicates the  importance  and  gravity  of  the  mood. 
The  swiftness  with  which  it  falls — i.  e.,  the  time 
it  takes  to  fall  — indicates  the  intensity.  Com- 
bine height  and  swiftness,  and  you  indicate  great 
passions  in .  great  heat.  Combine  height  and 
slowness,  and  you  indicate  great  passions  under 
great  control. 

(2.)  Upward  gestures  correspond  with  our 
light,  unemphatic,  volatile,  and  least  important 
moods. 

But  the  depth  from  which  the  gesture  pro- 
ceeds, the  direction  in  the  upper  spaces  to  which 
it  tends,  the  time  given  it,  the  form  of  the  figure 
it  describes,  the  zone  of  the  body,  or  the  agent 
from  which  it  proceeds,  —  all  these  circumstances 
are  so  many  comments  upon  the  character  and 
significance  of  the  upward  gesture. 

(3.)  Poised  gestures  (i.  e.,  gestures  held  in 
equilibrium)  correspond  with  poise  of  the 
Being. 

These  gestures  are  the  significant  symbols  of 
the  grand  moods  of  the  Soul. 

The  higher  Emotive  states,  in  strict  accord- 
ance with  the  law  of  correspondence,  draw  up- 
.  wards  the  body  in  space  along  the  vertical  line. 


196  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

It  is  the  Outer  or  apparition  projecting  itself  in 
as  large  a  form  as  possible,  as  if  it  would  rep- 
resent the  stability,  dignity,  and  wholeness  that 
a  mountain  stands  for  in  a  landscape.  That  was 
a  happy  conceit  of  correspondence,  of  the  Eng- 
lish prelate,  who  declared  Daniel  Webster  to  be 
"a  walking  cathedral." 

(d.)  The  lead  given  by  Nature  in  her  law  of  gravitation 
is  wonderfully  broad  and  adequate  in  its  application  to  ges- 
ture. 

Let  the  student  note  a  few  correspondences  based  upon 
our  sense  of  gravity  :  — 

(1.)  OUTER  EXPRESSION.  —  The  hand  thrown  obliquely 
upwards  —  accompanied  by  snapping  with  the  thumb  and 
second  finger  —  is  our  action  when  we  throw  away  (up- 
wards) some  object  of  little  importance  or  value. 

INNER  CORRESPONDENCE.  —  By  this  gesture  we  reject 
trivial  ideas.  Hence  ideas  we  scorn,  or  treat  lightly,  we 
throw  into  space. 

Intense  scorn  or  belittling  adds  to  the  gesture  of  snap- 
ping with  thumb  and  finger  some  play  of  the  face,  as  an 
askance  look,  or  a  measuring  of  the  person  with  the  eye 
from  the  feet  upwards.  We  look  him  over,  that  is,  we  quite 
over  look  him,  find  him  trivial  and  worthless,  and  say  by  a 
complexity  of  agents  in  action,  "  He 's  not  worth  . 
that!" 

Take  the  antithesis  of  this  action. 

(2.)  OUTER  EXPRESSION. — Hand  thrown  obliquely  down- 
wards and  backwards,  palm  prone,  is  our  gesture  when  we 
throw  away  things  we  do  not  want,  things  that  are  in  our 
way. 

INNER  CORRESPONDENCE.  —  By  this  gesture — if  starting 
from  the  Zone  of  Equality  —  we  throw  away  ideas  that 
annoy  us,  but  have  not  weight  enough  to  oppress  us.  But 
if  the  gesture  starts  from  the  Zone  of  the  Superior,  we  cast 
down  ideas  that  we  fear,  hate,  or  that  oppress  us. 


THE  REALM  OF  CORRESPONDENCE.         197 

A  curious  gesture  of  the  deaf  and  dumb,  and  one  often 
used,  when  they  would  express  their  sense  of  an  insignif- 
icant or  contemptible  person,  is  to  roll  an  imaginary  tiny 
bit  of  matter  between  the  thumb  and  forefinger,  and  then 
flip  it  upwards. 

These  correspondences  we  would  argue  to  be  universal. 
They  are  older  than  spoken  language,  and  are  its  accom- 
paniment and  interpreter.  Strabo  curiously  mentions  the 
sign  of  "  I  don't  care,"  or  "  It  is  not  worth,"  in  use  three 
thousand  years  ago. 

He  wrote :  "  At  Anchiale  there  is  a  monument  to  Sarda- 
napalus,  a  stone  statue  of  him,  as  if  snapping  his  fingers." 
An  inscription  in  Assyrian  reads :  "  Sardanapalus  built,  in 
one  day,  Anchiale  and  Tarsus.  Eat,  drink,  and  play ;  the 
rest  is  not  worth  .  .  .  that !  " 

The  following  diagram  will  represent  the  sig- 
nificance of  direct  and  oblique  lines  of  gesture, 
traced  by  the  hand  and  arm  :  — 


1 


1.  The  vertical  line  expresses  affirmation. 
The  correspondence  is  that  of  assent,  accept- 
ance, agreement,  certainty. 

The  height  from  which  the  gesture  falls  in- 
dicates the  largeness  or  importance  of  the  accept- 
ance, agreement,  or  affirmation. 


198  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

The  quickness,  or  time,  of  the  gesture  indi- 
cates its  heat  or  intensity.  The  head  uses  the 
same  gesture  to  express  affirmation. 

2.  The   horizontal  line   expresses   negation. 
The   correspondence  is   that   of  denial,   non- 
agreement,  opposition. 

In  space  nothing  denies  or  opposes  the  vertical 
so  completely  as  the  horizontal.  This  gesture  of 
the  head  is  well-nigh  universal  for  "  no,"  as  the 
vertical  is  for  "  yes." 

3.  Gestures  tracing  oblique   lines  upwards 
and  outwards  express  the  rejection  or  throw- 

aside  of  light  or  trivial  things. 

4.  Gestures  tracing  oblique  lines  downwards 
and  outwards  express  the  rejection  of  heavy  or 
oppressive  things. 

In  concluding  our  discussion  of  gestures  of 
the  hand  and  arm,  it  will  be  seen  that  they  fall 
readily  into  the  two  classes  discussed  at  length 
in  Chapter  X.  of  this  treatise :  (1.)  Gestures  re- 
ferring to  objects  whether  real  or  ideal.  (2.) 
Gestures  manifesting  states  of  the  Being. 

To  this  classification  we  might  add  a  third : 
(3.)  Gestures  that  are  composites  or  blends  of 
the  two  classes. 

These  gestures  correspond  with  complex  states 
of  the  Being. 

We  then  shall  have  all  gestures  classified  as 
objective,  subjective,  and  blends  or  composites. 

(e.)  The  student  will  note  that  this  classification  includes 
all  possible  gestures. 


THE  REALM  OF  CORRESPONDENCE.        199 

Take  an  illustration  of  each  of  these  classes  :  — 

1.  OBJECTIVE.  —  The  comment  of  the  Psychic  upon  a 
distant  mountain  put  into  gesture  of  the  hand  and  arm. 
The  gesture  marks  the  position  of  the  object  in  space,  and 
outlines  its  main  feature  of  form.    We  may  call  this  a  Vito- 
Mental  comment  of  the  Being. 

2.  SUBJECTIVE.  —  The  Soul's  communion  with  itself  in 
view  of  a  dreadful  crime.     The  King  in  Hamlet :  — 

..."  But,  O,  what  form  of  prayer 
Can  serve  ray  turn  ?     Forgive  me  my  foul  murther  ? 
That  cannot  be  ;  since  I  am  still  possess' d 
Of  those  effects  for  which  I  did  the  murther !  " 

Here  the  gesture  would  be  concentric.  The  use  of  both 
hands  would  show  the  intensity  of  feeling.  The  torso 
would  be  the  agent  most  deeply  affected.  The  face  would' 
show  the  deep  Mental  distress.  The  hand  directed  towards^ 
upper  torso  and  head,  the  nature  of  the  remorse.  The 
whole  body  would  give  slow  pendulum  swing  under  the 
sway  of  the  Emotive  nature. 

3. 'BLENDS. — Complex  subjective  and  objective  states. 
Milton's  Satan,  cast  into  Hell,  attempts  to  find  a  refuge  in 
Space : — 

"Which  way  shall  I  fly 
Infinite  wrath  and  infinite  despair  ? 
Which  way  I  fly  is  Hell ;  myself  am  Hell ; 
And  in  the  lowest  deep,  a  lower  deep 
Still  threatening  to  devour  me,  opens  wide, 
To  which  the  hell  I  suffer  seems  a  Heaven !  " 

Here  the  gestures  would  alternate  between  eccentric  and 
concentric.  The  correspondences  with  space  and  time,  as 
will  be  surmised,  would  give  high  and  broad  action  and 
slow  time,  to  mark  adequately  the  grandeur  of  the  poet's 
imagery. 

A  few  words  should  be  written  here,  technical 
in  their  significance,  based  upon  our  analysis. 
Whether  a  gesture  shall  be  effective  before  an 


200  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

audience  depends  upon  a  variety  of  conditions, 
but  chiefly  upon  the  condition  that  it  shall  cor- 
respond with  the  psychic  mood  which  the  orator 
would  arouse.  An  effective  gesture  must  insti- 
tute the  following  relations.  It  must  bear  refer- 
ence to :  — 

1.  The  zone  of  the  projected  globe  towards 
which  it  is  directed. 

2.  The  zone   of  the  body  from   which  the 
gesture  proceeds  or  towards  which  it  is  di- 
rected. 

3.  TJie  direction  it  takes,  and  the  point  of 
'elevation  or  depression  at  which  it  terminates. 

4.  The  time  or  rate  of  the  gesture,  whether 
it  be  slow  or  fast. 

5.  The  space  swept  through  by  the  gesture, 
whether  vertically  or  horizontally;  or  if  the 
gesture  be  an  attitude,  the  space  and  time  held 
by  the  agent. 

6.  The  kind,  proportions,  and  symmetries 
of  the  figures   which   are   described,   whether 
by  straight  lines,  curves,  or  composite  lines. 

Finally,  let  the  student  note  the  broad  corre- 
spondence between  the  higher  Emotive  nature, 
declaring  itself  through  poise,  and  the  globe, 
symbol  of  wholeness  and  entirety. 

Delsarte  has  been  credited  with  the  statement 
of  the  law  of  poise. 

Strength  at  the  centre  gives  freedom  at  the 
surface. 

Let  the  student  bear  constantly  in  mind  that 


THE  REALM  OF  CORRESPONDENCE.         201 

it  is  always  the  centred  Psychic  that  declares  it- 
self as  freedom  through  the  poise  of  the  expres- 
sive agents.  Gesture,  without  significance,  is  only 
a  form  of  reflex  action,  an  aimless  discharge  of 
vital  force.  It  is  grimace  in  art.  But  precision, 
harmony,  gracefulness,  find  their  highest  expres- 
sions in  Poise,  which  is  also  the  highest  form  of 
freedom. 


CHAPTER 

THE  HUMAN    FACE   AS  AN  AGENT  OF  EXPRESSION. 

WE  are  all  unconscious  physiognomists.  In- 
stinctively we  scan  the  face  to  know  the  man. 
We  say  at  a  glance,  without  hesitation,  and  with- 
out effort  of  reasoning,  of  a  stranger :  "  He  is 
proud  or  deceitful;"  or,  "He  is  honest  and  trust- 
worthy." When  asked  what  we  saw  in  that  in- 
stant of  time  upon  which  to  base  so  decided 
a  judgment  we  are  puzzled,  and  say :  "  Well,  I 
don't  know  that  I  can  give  any  reason,  but  I 
don't  like  his  face ;  I  am  impressed  that  he  is  an 
unsafe  man." 

This  is  common  testimony.  It  cannot  easily 
be  set  aside.  The  art  of  interpreting  the  fea- 
tures by  direct  beholding  and  without  conscious 
analysis  is  widely  practised,  and  decisions  based 
upon  it  are  unhesitatingly  pronounced.  Said 
Darwin :  "  It  has  often  struck  me  as  a  curious 
fact  that  so  many  shades  of  expression  are  in- 
stantly recognized  without  any  conscious  process 
of  analysis  on  our  part."  So  Shakespeare  makes 
Lady  Macbeth  read  at  a  glance  her  husband's  dis- 
traction of  soul :  — 


EXPRESSIONS  OF  THE  FACE.  203 

"  Your  face,  my  Thane,  is  as  a  book  where  men 
May  read  strange  matters." 

"  As  for  myself/'  said  an  eminent  portrait  painter, 
a  close  observer  of  human  features,  "  faces  al- 
most haunt  me;  and  I  am  so  apt  to  judge  a 
man  by  his  face  that  I  am  sometimes  fatally 
tempted  to  act  the  police  and  order  an  arrest !  " 

The  human  face  presents  a  complex  problem 
of  resemblances  and  differences,  and  it  is  the  dif- 
ferences that  count ;  otherwise  the  marvel  would 
be  still  more  marvelous  that  we  are  able  to  dis- 
tinguish a  known  face  among  a  thousand  stran- 
gers, and  that,  too,  after  the  lapse  of  years.  What 
amazing  psychic  faculty  it  is  that  recalls  a  face 
that  for  years  has  never  once  filled  our  conscious- 
ness !  "  I  should  have  known  you  if  I  had  met 
you  in  Japan,  instead  of  here  on  Broadway ;  and 
yet  fifteen  years  have  passed  since  I  last  set  eyes 
upon  you ! " 

The  problem  of  reading  the  countenance  in- 
creases in  difficulty,  if  we  stop  to  consider  the 
number  of  expressions  possible  to  this  surface,  so 
small  that  its  expressive  region  can  be  covered 
with  a  single  hand.  And  there  is  a  further  in- 
crease of  difficulty,  if  we  consider  that  expression 
proper  rests  in  motion,  and  so  belongs  to  the 
movable  features.  The  form  of  the  forehead  and 
chin  are  elements  of  proportion  only,  and  with- 
out the  movable  centres  of  eyes,  mouth,  and  nos- 
trils have  only  the  negative  value  of  fixed  form. 

Delaumosne,  student  of  Delsarte,  somewhere 


204  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

gives  eight  hundred  as  the  possible  expressions  of 
the  eye  directed  towards  the  three  planes  of  vis- 
ion. This  at  first  blush  seems  an  enormous  ex- 
aggeration ;  but  if  we  consider  the  operation  of 
the  well-known  law  of  permutation  it  is  by  no 
means  incredible. 

Think  a  moment !  There  are  but  twenty-six 
letters  in  our  alphabet,  yet  no  valuable  thought 
is  in  danger  of  getting  lost  for  want  of  a  sentence 
in  which  to  imprison  it !  Shakespeare  used  a 
wonderful  vocabulary  of  fifteen  thousand  words, 
each  word  a  permutation  of  these  twenty-six  let- 
ters. 

Nearly  one  hundred  thousand  words  in  Web- 
ster's Unabridged,  and  one  hundred  and  thirty 
thousand  in  Ogilvie's  Imperial  Dictionary,  are 
permutations  of  twenty-six  letters. 

Now,  suppose  we  apply  this  law  to  the  moving 
muscles  of  the  face.  According  to  Moreau,  there 
are  fifty-five  muscles  that  go  to  make  this  wonder- 
ful organic  complex, — the  human  face.  What 
wonder  that  the  Soul,  alarmed  by  the  problem 
presented  through  this  complexity  of  moving  mus- 
cle, abandons  the  slow  process  of  reasoning,  cuts 
the  Gordian  knot,  and  solves  the  problem  by  in- 
tuition, or  instantaneous  impression  made  by  the 
whole  of  the  moving  mass  !  What  delay  would 
there  not  be  if  logic  or  mathematics  should  apply 
their  slow  processes  ? 

(a.)  We  fail  to  grasp  the  almost  infinite  number  of  new 
forms  that  it  is  possible  to  make  from  a  limited  number  of 
lines  or  objects  under  the  operation  of  this  law. 


EXPRESSIONS  OF  THE  FACE.  205 

Think  of  the  endless  combinations  of  various  and  novel 
forms  that  Nature  presents,  fashioned  from  the  two  kinds  of 
lines,  straight  and  curved  ! 

Jevons,  in  his  "  Principles  of  Science,"  gives  an  illustra- 
tion of  the  operation  of  this  law  in  the  deals  of  the  fifty-two 
cards  in  whist.  The  number  of  distinct  hands,  in  dealing  to 
four  persons,  is  so  vast  that  twenty-eight  figures  can  alone 
express  it.  If  the  population  of  the  world,  say  one  hundred 
thousand  millions,  were  to  deal  cards  day  and  night  for  an 
hundred  thousand  years,  they  would  not  exhaust  one  hundred 
thousandth  part  of  the  possible  deals  ! 

The  play  of  the  fifty-five  muscles  of  the  human 
face  presents  an  intricate  and  baffling  study  of 
form  and  motion.  And  it  is  the  whole  tract  of 
the  face  that  we  unconsciously  coordinate  to  ar- 
rive at  a  decision.  That  physiognomy  has  not 
yet  grown  into  a  recognized  science  is  not  to  be 
wondered  at.  In  studies  of  the  human  face,  there 
still  exists  that  first  confusion  that  puzzles  the 
mind  when  confronted  by  a  great  number  of  com- 
plex phenomena.  It  is  well  to  remember — if  one 
is  led  to  despair  that  such  phenomena  can  ever 
be  reduced  to  order — that  alchemy  led  the  way 
to  modern  chemistry ;  that  myth  and  miracle  pre- 
ceded authentic  history ;  and  that  the  astrologer 
abused  the  silent  majesty  of  the  stars  to  foretell 
human  destiny  long  before  astronomy  had  its 
birth  as  science. 

At  present  we  have  a  mass  of  crude  observa- 
tions and  unrelated  deductions,  which  we  cannot 
put  into  statement.  Some  day  a  keener  vision 
will  relate  fact  to  fact,  and  conclusion  to  conclu- 


206  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

sion ;  and  what  now  seems  conjecture  will  crys* 
tallize  into  certainty. 

In  our  study  of  form  and  motion  of  the  human 
face,  let  us  recall  the  fundamental  premise  upon 
which  rests  all  expression  :  — 

In  all  organisms  motion  is  manifestation: 
at  the  base,  Life  ;  at  the  summit,  Soul. 

Man  is  the  only  being  upon  the  earth  whose 
manifestations  are  a  synthesis  of  all  form  and 
motion  possible  to  animal  life.  He  is  the  only 
being  whose  expressions  are  the  outcome  of  the 
three  perfected  natures  of  the  Being. 

So  it  is  not  strange  that  he  is  the  only  animal 
on  earth  that  makes  a  conscious  inward  gesture ; 
the  only  animal  who  lifts  his  face  to  the  vertical ; 
the  only  being  on  the  earth  who  can  think  the 
thought,  "I  ought,"  —  moved  by  an  impulse 
higher  than  instinct.  The  expressions  of  all 
other  animals  proceed  from  the  Vital,  with  only 
rudimentary  traces  from  the  Emotive  and  Mental. 
And  we  find  in  the  mammals  nearest  man  —  the 
dog,  horse,  and  elephant — that  perception  and 
memory,  as  in  man,  lead  the  Mental  faculties. 

So  we  find  the  expressions  of  the  lion  and  the 
tiger  wonderfully  strong,  when  excited  by  fear  or 
hunger,  or  when  defending  their  young,  or  tear- 
ing the  flesh  of  their  prey. 

In  the  truest  sense,  if  we  take  account  of  ex- 
pressions from  the  Emotive  and  Mental,  Pliny 
wrote  :  "  To  man  alone  is  given  a  face."  And 
in  man  alone  have  face,  hand,  voice,  and  articu- 
late speech  become  ultimate  and  final. 


EXPRESSIONS  OF  THE  FACE.  207 

We  state  the  law  which  governs  all  sentient 
Being,  from  the  lowest  forms  of  protozoa  to  man 
at  the  summit  of  psychic  development. 

Law  :  Psychic  manifestations  are  in  pro- 
portion to,  and  correspond  with,  their  physical 


Mantegazza  thus  formulates  the  law  :  Wealth 
of  anatomy  and  wealth  of  expression  always 
correspond. 

(b.)  No  sentient  life  exists  upon  the  earth  outside  a  body. 
The  simplest  life  builds  a  cell  and  lives  at  its  centre.  The 
Psychic  thus  attempts  to  realize  itself.  If  the  Psychic  be 
simple  and  homogeneous,  its  body  will  correspond,  and  the 
expressions  possible  to  it  will  be  few  and  simple.  As  struc- 
ture advances  in  complexity,  expressions  become  varied 
and  complex.  In  the  human  body,  structure  has  reached  its 
highest  and  comptetest  development.  And  we  may  confi- 
dently say  that  in  the  human  face  we  find  a  structure  with 
such  delicate  complexities  of  nerves,  muscles,  and  membranes 
that  no  emotion  is  so  subtile  but  that  it  may  find  a  ground  of 
display  in  this  living  mirror.  So  we  may  say,  broadly,  that 
the  faces  of  animals  give  comparatively  few  psychic  expres- 
sions, and  these  mainly  Vital. 

Among  the  mammals,  the  larger  carnivora  are  wonder- 
fully expressive  in  manifestations  of  the  Vital  nature.  With 
them  the  muscular  system  is  very  large,  and  almost  con- 
stantly in  action  ;  the  respiration  and  circulation  extremely 
active.  There  is  a  great  waste  of  Vital  energy,  which  must 
be  reinforced  by  frequent  supplies  of  flesh.  Hence  the  ex- 
pressions of  uncovering  the  teeth  in  order  to  tear  their  prey, 
uncovering  the  eyes  in  order  to  see,  uncovering  the  claws  to 
seize,  make  the  action  of  the  tiger  or  lion  most  formidable 
Vital  expressions. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  graminivorous  animals,  as  the 
sheep  or  ox,  present  few  expressions.  The  skin  of  the  head 


208  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

is  closely  attached  to  the  skull,  and  is  capable  of  but  little 
motion  ;  the  lips  cover  the  teeth,  the  eye  has  slow  movement, 
and  the  expressions  are  mild  and  show  peaceful  intent. 

We  may  state  the  Law  of  Expression  in  animals  nearest 
man  in  structure  :  — 

The  force  of  the  expression  is  in  proportion  to  the  strength 
of  the  principal  action  of  the  animal  when  in  search  of  food, 
or  when  aroused  by  resistance  of  its  prey,  or  when  acting  in 
its  own  defense  or  that  of  its  offspring. 

Of  all  living  structures,  the  human  face  pre- 
sents the  greatest  number  and  complexity  of 
physical  supports  for  psychic  manifestations. 

Let  us  examine  these  supports,  which  in  the 
head  and  face  lie  open  to  our  inspection :  — 

(1.)  The  most  remarkable  characteristic  of  the 
human  head  and  face,  as  a  structure,  is  the  glob- 
ular form  of  the  skull,  united  as  it  is  with  the 
prolate  spheroidal  form  of  the  face.  In  this  com- 
bination of  curved  lines,  and  in  the  approxima- 
tion of  the  face  to  the  vertical,  lie  the  highest 
possibilities  of  expression  through  form. 

(c.)  The  student  will  note  that  the  curves  of  the  outline 
of  the  head  and  face  give  the  element  of  uniformity ;  while 
the  broken  lines  of  the  face  give  the  element  of  variety. 

It  is  the  union  of  these  opposite  elements  that  gives  our 
idea  of  beauty. 

The  infant's  face  is  an  outline  made  up  of  curves.  The 
man's  face,  an  outline  made  up  largely  of  broken  lines. 

Hence  the  infant  presents,  as  the  ruling  expression,  uni- 
formity ;  the  man,  variety.  The  Greek  face  of  Apollo  ideal- 
izes these  elements. 

In  the  human  face,  age  lessens  uniformity,  but  increases 
variety.  Uniformity  is  allied  with  monotony ;  variety  with 
picturesqueness.  Young  faces  are  symmetrical,  but  weak  in 


EXPRESSIONS  OF  THE  FACE.  209 

expression ;  old  faces  are  picturesque  and  strong.  Ah !  the 
rare  beauty  of  some  old  faces,  wrought  into  harmony  by  the 
chisel  of  hard  experiences,  softened  now  by  the  mellow  glow 
of  the  sunset ! 

(2.)  The  solid  parts  of  the  skull  and  bones  of 
the  face  form  the  groundwork  for  the  more  ex- 
pressive parts. 

We  look  to  the  forms  of  the  solid  parts  for  in- 
dications of  character,  and  to  the  motions  of  the 
softer  parts  for  indications  of  present  feelings. 

The  physical  supports  for  facial  expression  we 
may  name  as :  — 

(1.)  The  skull  and  bones  of  the  face. 

(2.)  The  organs  of  the  senses. 

(3.)  The  muscles  and  tissues. 

(4.)  The  brain  and  nerves. 

(5.)  The  veins  and  arteries. 

(6.)  The  beard,  and  lines  of  eyebrows  and 
lashes. 

And  we  may  say,  speaking  broadly,  that  in  the 
bones  rests  our  sense  of  stability ;  in  the  muscles 
our  sense  of  motion ;  in  the  brain  and  nerves, 
ourselves,  our  souls. 

It  is  through  and  by  physical  supports,  and  in 
no  other  way,  that  the  Psychic  manifests.  And 
this  is  true  alike  of  the  simplest  as  well  as  the 
most  complex  organism. 

There  is  no  break  in  Nature's  chain  of  sen- 
tient life,  and  no  departure  from  this  central  law. 
We  shall  base  our  considerations  of  the  expres- 
sions of  the  face  upon  it.    Let  us  particularize, 
n 


210  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

I.  The  basis  of  expression  lies  in  the  mus- 
cular movement  attendant  on  sensibility. 

Experience  tells  us  that  wherever  there  is  mo- 
tion in  an  animal  there  is  life.  Motion  in  an  or- 
ganism is  another  name  for  life. 

Reflex  motions  in  a  babe  are  assertions  of  life 
before  consciousness  has  been  awakened. 

II.  The  face  is  the  primitive  and  basal  agent 
for  the  expression  of  feeling,1  and  wherever  in 
the  body  pain  or  pleasure  may  be  located,  the 
centre  of  expression  is  the  face. 

It  matters  not  whether  the  pain  or  pleasure  be 
a  sensation  or  an  emotion,  the  face  mirrors  it. 
So  we  have  called  the  face  the  near  centre  of  ex- 
pression. 

III.  The  special  organs  of  sense  are  grouped 
in  the  face,  or  in  close  proximity  to  it. 

This  is  true,  with  the  single  exception  of  the 
sense  of  touch,  which  is  a  sensation  of  the  en- 
velope or  skin,  but  which  is  epitomized  in  the 
ends  of  the  fingers  and  in  the  lips. 

This  grouping  of  highly  sensitive  organs  in  a 
small  space,  and  surrounding  them  with  a  delicate 
network  of  tissues,  easily  set  in  motion,  and,  more- 
over, adding  outline  and  color  to  her  display,  we 
may  without  violence  declare  to  be  Nature's  an- 
swer to  Art,  when  she  asked  for  the  highest  con- 
crete expression  of  Form,  Color,  and  Motion. 

1  The  author  throughout  this  treatise  adopts  the  nomenclature  and 
definition  of  Herbert  Spencer  in  his  division  of  Feeling  into  Sensation 
and  Emotion.  Sensations  are  feelings  arising  in  the  bodily  framework. 
Emotions  are  feelings  arising  in  the  mental  framework. 


EXPRESSIONS  OF  THE  FACE.  211 

(d.)  "  Why,"  it  is  sometimes  asked,  "  are  there  five  senses, 
and  no  more  ?  "  Simply  because  there  are  five  states  of  mat- 
ter to  be  sensed,  and  no  more :  solids  for  touching,  liquids 
for  tasting,  fluids  for  smelling,  air-waves  for  hearing,  light 
for  seeing ;  and  some  add  a  sixth  sense,  the  muscular,  and 
so  add  weight  for  the  muscular  sense. 

With  our  present  organs  we  cannot  sense  electricity,  mag- 
netism, and  actinism ;  and  subtler  forces,  perhaps,  even  than 
these,  that  may  exist  unknown  to  us.  But  Nature  has  made 
provision  for  the  reception  of  the  strongest  possible  impres- 
sions consistent  with  organization ;  hence  not  one,  but  five 
sense  organs.  And,  curiously  enough,  she  doubles  the  organ 
where  a  single  function  is  to  be  exercised,  but  makes  the  single 
organ  do  duty  where  there  is  a  double  function.  So  our  most 
powerful  impressions  are  received  through  the  double  organs. 
The  ear  only  hears ;  it  is  double.  The  eye  only  sees ;  it  is 
double.  But  the  nose  and  mouth  are  single  organs,  yet  they 
perform  the  double  office  of  speech  and  smell,  and  speech 
and  taste.  And  these  two  organs,  let  it  be  noted,  are  two 
externally,  but  are  one  internally.  When  they  receive  im- 
pressions, they  are  two ;  when  they  are  used  to  give  expres- 
sion in  voice  and  speech,  they  act  as  one  agent  of  the  Being. 

IV.  The  sense  organs  are  in  dose  proxim- 
ity to  the  brainy  —  the  seat  of  all  sensation, 
—  with  which  they  are  connected  by  large 
nerves. 

These  nerves  are  direct  lines  of  communication. 
They  are  wonderful  physical  supports  for  psychic 
manifestations.  Stating  the  problem  in  terms  of 
matter,  they  are  direct  roadways  to  and  from  the 
brain.  Stating  the  problem  in  terms  of  mind, 
they  are  direct  roadways  to  and  from  the  self,  — 
the  Ego. 

(e.)  Of  the  sense  organs,  Luys  has   graphically  said: 


212  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

"  These  are  the  sole  and  unique  open  gates  by  which  all 
stimuli  from  without,  destined  to  serve  as  pabulum  vitce  for 
the  cortical  cells  of  the  brain,  pass."  Thus  these  organs 
bring  to  the  Soul  the  whole  external  world  as  impressions, 
to  be  returned,  through  external  motion,  as  expressions. 

V.  The  face  is  plentifully  supplied  with 
nerves  that  connect  its  muscles  with  the  brain. 

Relatively  to  its  size,  a  larger  number  of  nerves 
are  distributed  to  the  face  than  to  any  other  ex- 
ternal part  of  the  body. 

From  forehead  to  chin  the  whole  tract  is 
closely  packed  with  interlaced  nerves  and  mus- 
cles. Around  the  eye,  including  those  moving 
the  ball,  there  are  not  fewer  than  ten  distinct 
muscles,  whose  innumerable  fibres  are  vitalized 
by  innumerable  nerves. 

In  connection  with  the  cheek  and  mouth  there 
are  eleven  muscles.  Double  these,  figures  for 
both  sides  of  the  face,  and  apply  the  rule  of  per- 
mutation to  ascertain  the  number  of  possible  ex- 
citations, and  it  will  be  readily  admitted  that  the 
physical  supports  Nature  has  furnished  seem  ade- 
quate to  present  the  nicest  shades  and  gradations 
of  expression. 

(/!)  Problem  for  the  student  of  expression :  Given  the 
highest  conceivable  intelligence,  the  finest  Emotive  impulses, 
the  most  acute  sensibility,  and  tell  me  what  subtle  passion 
the  human  face  could  not  portray.* 

1  Let  the  student  of  expression  not  think  of  the  body  as  a  mere 
mechanism,  or  carcass  of  bone,  muscle,  and  nerves,  but  as  a  living 
unity  of  orderly  parts,  that  through  differentiation  has  at  last  be- 
come fitted  to  give  outward  expression  to  the  threefold  nature  of  man, 


EXPRESSIONS  OF  THE  FACE.  213 

"We  have  indicated  the  physical  supports  to 
psychic  expression  found  in  the  face. 

And  we  now  come  to  the  important  question, 
How  is  this  delicate  complexity  of  muscles,  tis- 
sues, and  nerves  operated  ? 

Three  factors  are  essential  to  the  production  of 
a  gesture :  1.  A  muscle.  2.  A  nerve.  3.  An 
expenditure  of  Vital  force. 

It  is  by  this  means  that  an  emotion  translates 
itself  as  motion.  A  simple  diagram  will  make 
this  plain :  — 

Muscle ^ 

Emotion  as          Its  appearance 

a  State     #::."." .Nerve TV*      in  the 

of  the  Psychic. Body  as  Motion. 

Expenditure.--""" 

Let  us  attempt  a  closer  analysis.  The  simplest 
motion  is  a  result  of  the  cooperation  of  these 
three  agencies.  Let  us  trace  the  office  of  each 
agent :  — 

1.  Muscles  are  instruments  that  remain  passive 
until  their  power  is  evoked. 

They  never  move  themselves.  We  may  say 
that  moving  muscles  are  Will  made  manifest. 

Tn  this  outward  expression  the  face  leads.     It  is  centre,  and  all  else  of 
the  body  is  periphery. 

Swedenborg  somewhere  pictures  a  soul  just  released  from  its  body, 
•who  is  about  to  be  examined  by  "his  inquisitors,  the  angels."  They 
look  into  his  face,  intently  scanning  its  lines.  Soon  they  extend  their 
examination  over  the  whole  body,  beginning  with  the  fingers  of  each 
hand.  "This  was  explained  to  me:  'Every  volition  and  thought 
of  man  is  inscribed  on  his  brain.  Whatever,  therefore,  is  in  the  mind 
is  in  the  brain ;  and  from  the  brain  is  in  the  body,  according  to  the  ordei 
tf  its  parts.'" 


214  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

2.  As  structure,  and  seen  fresh  from  an  ani- 
mal, muscles  are  red  flesh,  or  lean  meat.     Upon 
closer  examination,  a  muscle  is  seen  to  be  com- 
posed of  fibres,  or  bundles  of  fibres ;  and  if  ex- 
amined by  the  microscope,  each  fibre  discloses 
fibres  within  fibres.     In  the  last  analysis  possible 
to  the  most  powerful  lenses,  the  ultimate  fibres 
lie  in  form  of  disks,  like  coins  piled  one  upon 
another. 

3.  The  characteristic  of  a  muscle  is  its  power 
to  contract.     To  use  a  figure  of  speech,  contrac- 
tility is  the  soul  of  the  muscle.1     The  fixed  end 
of  the  muscle  is  termed  its  origin ;  the  movable 
end,  its  insertion. 

(g.)  It  will  be  well  for  the  student  to  note  that  not  all 
muscles  are  attached  to  bones.  The  tendons  of  some  pass 
into  soft  structures,  as,  for  instance,  the  orbiculars  of  the  eyes 
and  the  round  muscle  of  the  mouth. 

4.  In  the  play  of  the  muscles,  the  larger  and 
coarser  muscles  are  Vital  in  their  expressions. 
The  finer  and  smaller  are  Emotive  and  Mental. 
The  finest  and  smallest  are  used  to  give  the  del- 
icacy and  finesse  of  artistic  representation. 

And  this  ratio  is  constant  between  the  instru- 
ment and  office  to  be  performed  by  the  instru- 
ment. Thus,  the  legs  have  large  and  coarse  mus- 
cles ;  their  office  is  locomotion.  The  hand  is  a 

1  It  is  a  little  curious  that  the  creeping  motion  of  the  muscle,  as  if 
a  live  animal  were  under  the  skin,  should  have  so  impressed  the  ear- 
lier races  that  they  gave  a  name  that  marked  the  appearance.  The 
Greek,  Latin,  and  German  gave  the  same  name  to  the  creeping  ap- 
pearance under  the  skin,  namely,  "a  little  mouse"  (Latin,  musculus). 


EXPRESSIONS  OF  THE  FACE.  215 

complexity  of  small  and  fine  muscles,  and  the  face 
a  most  delicate  net-work  of  muscular  arrange- 
ment. 

Muscles,  then,  are  our  passive  "  physical  sup- 
ports," ready  for  motion  when  either  passion  or 
will  evokes  their  power. 

What  incites  these  muscles  to  activity  ?  Our 
answer  leads  to  a  definition  :  — 

The  nerves  are  instruments  interposed  be- 
tween the  brain  (or  interior)  and  the  outer  world 
(or  exterior). 

1.  The  nerves   have  but   a   single  office,  — 
that  of  receivers  and  carriers.     They  originate 
nothing.      They  all  have  identically  the   same 
composition.    They  are  white  cylindrical  threads, 
of  an  oily,  albuminous  appearance ;  and  the  ele- 
ment  phosphorus   enters   so   largely  into    their 
composition   that   Moleschott,  thinking  he  had 
pushed  Nature  to  the  wall,  and  had  wrested  from 
her  her  greatest  secret,  cried  out  when  viewing 
the  results  of  a  subtle  physical  analysis  of  nerve 
substance :    "  Ohne    Phosphor    kein   Gedanke " 
(without  phosphorus,  no  soul !) 

2.  If  moving  muscles  are  will  made  manifest, 
nerves  are  lines  of  communication,  or  roadways, 
over  which  the  will  travels. 

There  are  twelve  lines  of  nerves  leading  from 
the  brain  outwards,  and  thirty  -  one  pairs,  or 
double  lines,  leading  from  the  spinal  cord  into 
the  human  territory. 

3.  Nerves  are  divided  into  two  classes,  in  ac- 


216  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

cordance  with  the  nature  of  their  functions.  One 
set  of  nerves  carries  impressions  from  without  in- 
wards; a  centripetal  wave  of  motion  moves  in- 
wards. The  other  set  of  nerves  carries  impres- 
sions from  within  outwards ;  a  centrifugal  wave 
of  motion  moves  outwards. 

It  was  upon  this  physical  fact,  open  to  all 
attentive  vision,  and  simple  as  it  may  seem 
when  stated,  that  Delsarte  based  his  three 
modes  of  motion,  —  eccentric,  concentric,  and 
poise. 

And  further :  it  was  this  physical  fact  that 
led  straight  to  the  deduction  that  the  Psychic 
uses  these  three  modes  of  motion  to  manifest  it- 
self in  three  phases  of  one  Being. 

Gestures  indicating  that  we  are  impressed  or 
affected  move  from  outer  towards  the  inner. 
They  follow  the  ingoing  nerves. 

And  gestures  made  with  the  intent  to  impress 
or  affect  others  move  from  inner  towards  the 
outer.  They  follow  the  outgoing  nerves. 

(h.)  The  student  is  urged  to  ponder  these  statements. 
They  are  the  key  that  unlocks  the  mystery  of  Delsarte.  It 
will  appear  the  more  evident  the  more  it  is  thought  upon, 
that  the  outer  (the  body)  is  a  veritable  correspondence  of 
the  inner  (the  Soul  or  Being),  and  that  the  motive  (motif), 
or  inner  desire,  and  the  outer  act,  or  external  sign,  are  one 
in  expression. 

In  all  mammals,  the  same  relation  exists  be- 
tween the  nervous  and  muscular  systems. 

We  may  state  the  essential  condition  of  mus- 


EXPRESSIONS  OF  THE  FACE.  217 

cular  motion.  It  is  essential  that  the  nerve  shall 
pass  into  direct  contact  with  the  muscle  substance, 
so  that  the  minutest  fibres  of  the  one  shall  closely 
interlace  and  intermingle  with  the  minutest  fibres 
of  the  other0 

These  relations  of  the  two  factors,  nerve  and 
muscle,  are  open  to  analysis  by  the  physicist. 
The  third  factor  essential  to  motion  —  an  expen- 
diture of  nerve  force,  which  travels  along  the 
line  and  summons  the  muscle  to  action  —  baffles 
all  his  search.  Aided  by  the  most  powerful 
lenses,  he  fails  to  detect  the  nature  of  this  subtle 
force.  No  amount  of  spying,  weighing,  measur- 
ing, finds  this  psychic  factor. 

So  all  ends  in  an  hypothesis.  And  this  hy- 
pothesis the  physicist  calls  "  freeing  the  forces." 
The  nerve  irritant  is  said  to  set  free  the  muscle 
forces,  and  these  liberated  forces  translate  them- 
selves as  motion. 

(i.)  The  freedom  and  ease  with  which  our  muscles  most 
frequently  used  are  called  into  action,  and  the  slight  con- 
scious effort  we  make  to  move  them,  would  suggest  that  free- 
ing the  muscle  force  is  made  with  slight  expenditure  of  nerve 
force. 

This  conclusion  is  believed  to  be  a  correct  one.  The  free- 
ill  g  force  is  small  as  compared  with  the  force  set  free.  This 
freeing  of  great  forces  by  small  forces  is  only  possible  in 
cases  of  unstable  equilibrium. 

Thus,  oxygen,  hydrogen,  nitrogen,  and  carbon  may  lie  in 
stable  equilibrium  for  years,  side  by  side ;  but  mingle  them 
in  a  certain  way,  and  you  have  a  substance,  nitro-glycerine 
(CgH-jNgOg),  which  the  slightest  blow  may  convert  into  a 
terrible  agent  of  destruction. 


218  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

So  the  physicist,  Rosenthal,  declares  that  these  elements 
lie  in  close  proximity  in  our  muscles,  and  in  unstable  equi- 
librium ;  and  it  is  the  irritant  nerve  that  releases  the  force 
as  motion. 

But  what  a  mystery  of  mysteries  lies  behind  this  physical 
process,  when  an  emotion  rises  in  the  psychic  framework, 
and  the  Soul  rushes  along  the  psychic  pathway  into  the  am- 
ple region  of  the  face,  and  moves  its  pliant  muscles  into 
plastic  forms ! 

And  this  coming  forth  of  the  spiritual  into  the  area  of 
the  face,  to  greet  the  material,  gives  ground  for  a  new  defi- 
nition of  Expression :  "  Expression  is  Feature  in  the  mak- 
ing!" 

How  this  complexity  of  human  features  trans- 
lates through  its  zones  the  three  states  of  the 
Being,  and  what  is  the  language  of  these  zones 
and  individual  parts,  must  be  left  for  another 
chapter. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

THE   HUMAN   FACE   AS   AN   AGENT   OF   EXPRES- 
SION (CONTINUED). 

IF  the  human  face  be  examined  in  profile,  or 
side  view,  it  will  be  seen  to  present  three  natural 
planes  or  zones. 

1.  The  frontal,  or  plane  of  the  forehead. 

2.  The  nasal,  or  plane  of  the  nose  and  cheeks. 

3.  The  maxillary,  or  plane  of  the  mouth  and 
chin. 

Now  if  we  examine  the  profile  of  an  animal 
with  which  man  is  closely  allied  in  structure,  say 
the  dog  or  horse,  we  shall  find  the  same  three  nat- 
ural planes,  having  the  same  general  structure, 
containing  the  same  sense  organs,  and  these  or- 
gans holding  the  same  relative  positions  in  the 
face  of  the  animal  as  in  man. 

But  note  an  important  point  of  difference  be- 
tween the  face  of  the  man  and  the  face  of  the  dog 
or  horse. 

In  the  man  the  proportions  of  the  face  ap- 
proach the  vertical. 

In  the  dog  or  horse  the  proportions  of  the  face 
approach  the  horizontal. 

In  a  profile  view  of  the  human  face  the  fore- 
bead,  nose,  and  chin  approach  a  vertical  line. 


220  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

Now,  if  we  should  sketch  in  imagination  the 
outline  of  the  head  of  the  horse,  the  dots  indi- 
cating the  three  planes  of  the  face  will  show  the 
approach  to  the  horizontal  line. 


PLANES  OF  THB  FACT  op  THB  HOBSB. 
#          Frontal. 

7 

*/          Nasal. 
y' 

#..•'*'          Maxillary. 


Upon  this  analysis  of  the  faces  of  man  and  the 
animals  nearest  him  in  structure,  we  formulate  a 
most  important  principle  as  ruling  in  expres- 
sion :  — 

I.  The  human  proportions  are  the  vertical 
proportions. 

II.  The  animal  proportions  are  the  horizon- 
tal proportions. 

And  as  corollaries  of  the  above  propositions, 
we  further  state  :  — 

1.  As  the  planes  of  an  animals  face  ap- 
proach  the  vertical  the  expression  becomes  more 
human-like. 

2.  As   the  planes   of  the   human  face   ap- 
proach the  horizontal  the  expression  becomes 
more  animal-like. 

Let  the  student  exercise  his  imagination,  and 
apply  these  principles  to  the  human  features. 
Take  the  three  planes  of  the  face,  and  throw 
them  successively  out  of  the  vertical,  and  note 
the  effect  upon  the  expression.  Take  the  maxil- 


EXPRESSIONS  OF  THE  FACE.  221 

lary  plane  :    Project  the  jaws,  and  you  have  ani- 
mal expression  of  the  lowest  races  of  men. 

(a.)  Even  at  the  centres  of  our  highest  civilizations,  in  all 
our  great  cities,  types  of  the  carnivora,  with  heavy  and  pro- 
jecting under-jaws,  proclaim  the  persistency  of  the  survival 
of  the  animal  and  brutal  Vital. 

No  language  in  the  whole  realm  of  Form  speaks  such 
wonderful  correspondences  as  are  found  in  the  arrangement 
of  the  bones  of  the  face. 

The  author  would  refer  the  student  interested  in  the  ex- 
pressive language  of  form  and  motion  to  Dr.  Rimmer's  "  Art 
Anatomy,"  *  the  most  exhaustive  treatment  made  in  modern 
times  of  the  application  of  Anatomy  to  Art. 

Take  the  nasal  plane  :  The  jutting  out  of  the 
cheek-bones  and  the  depression  of  the  bridge  of 
the  nose  give  marked  animal  expressions. 

Take  the  frontal  plane :  If  we  retreat  the 
forehead  away  from  the  vertical,  we  get  decided 
expressions  of  low  mental  power.  If,  on  the 
other  hand,  we  unduly  project  and  enlarge  the 
forehead,  we  get  the  expression  of  deformity. 
But  project  the  forehead  only  slightly  beyond 
the  vertical,  and  proportion  the  rest  of  the  fea- 
tures to  this  projection,  and  we  get  that  "poise" 
and  majesty  of  form  given  by  the  Greek  to  the 
front  of  Jove,  and  by  Michael  Angelo  to  his  con- 
cept of  God  as  Creator. 

And  we  may  say  that  ideal  perfection  of  the 
human  face,  given  the  world  by  the  Greek,  de- 
creases animal  proportions  to  a  minimum,  and  in- 
creases to  a  maximum  the  human  proportions. 

1  Dr.  William  Rimmer's  Art  Anatomy,  in  eighty-one  plates  from 
original  drawings.  Houghton,  Mifflin  &  Co.,  Boston. 


222  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

Other  defects  of  individual  features  usually  ac- 
company a  departure  from  the  law  of  the  ver- 
tical. 

Thus  the  depression  of  the  bridge  of  the 
nose  is  accompanied  by  the  forward  opening  of 
the  nostrils,  with  high  cheek-bones.  The  wide 
mouth,  by  thick  lips. 

So  we  may  define  the  highest  type  of  the  phys- 
ical presentation  of  man  as,  — 

The  animal  whose  face  presents  proportioned 
organs  along  a  line  closely  approaching  the  ver- 
tical. 

And  further :  that  the  proportions  of  the 
planes  of  the  face,  and  of  its  individual  fea- 
tures, bear  a  constant  and  fixed  relation  to  the 
development  of  the  Vital,  Emotive,  and  Mental 
states  of  the  Being. 

(b.)  Reasoning  from  these  correspondences  of  the  outer 
features  with  the  inner  Being,  we  adopt  the  general  conclu- 
sions, accredited  to  Delsarte,  regarding  the  expressions  of 
the  three  zones  of  the  face :  — 

1.  The  language  of  the  frontal  zone  is  Men- 
tal in  significance  ;  of  the  nasal  zone,  Emotive  ; 
and  of  the  maxillary  zone,  Vital. 

Thus  the  human  face  is  the  most  expressive 
summary  of  the  Soul.  All  psychic  motion  re- 
flects itself  in  this  mirror  of  flesh.  As  the  burn- 
ing-glass, with  its  double  convexity,  converges 
the  sun's  rays  to  a  focal  point  of  intense  light 
and  heat,  so  the  face  becomes  the  focal  centre  of 
psychic  radiance  and  clemency,  or  of  psychic  heat 
and  violence. 


EXPRESSIONS  OF  THE  FACE.  223 

Let  us  examine  the  face  in  motion,  and  en- 
deavor to  interpret  the  language  of  its  three 
zones,  and  of  each  tract  of  its  territory. 

We  shall  find  that  the  three  modes  of  mo- 
tion that  interpreted  the  language  of  the  head, 
torso,  and  limbs,  as  agents  of  expression,  will 
also  intarpret  the  play  of  the  features.  These 
modes  of  motion  are  eccentric,  concentric,  and 
poise.  And  we  shall  further  find  that  each  fea- 
ture of  the  face,  as  the  forehead,  nose,  cheeks, 
mouth,  chin,  ear,  and  eye,  may  reveal  some  Vital, 
Emotive,  or  Mental  state  through  both  form  and 
motion.  And  still  further  :  we  shall  find  blends 
or  composites  of  psychic  conditions  expressed  by 
the  cooperative  action  of  two  or  more  of  the  fea- 
tures. 

(c.)  The  modern  science  of  evolution  confirms  the  above 
conclusions.  It  teaches  that  structure  and  functions  of  the 
organs  of  sense  in  man  have  been  slowly  differentiated  from 
the  structural  type  so  common  to  mammals  to  meet  a  similar 
differentiation  of  the  inner  or  psychic  structure. 

The  mouth  and  nose  of  man  present  a  most  convincing  il- 
lustration of  correspondence.  From  service  in  the  animal 
economy,  these  organs  have  been,  through  progressive  stages, 
differentiated  to  serve  the  purposes  of  speech.  So  we  can 
say,  with  the  utmost  confidence,  that  the  speechless  man  of 
the  later  tertiary  or  early  quaternary  period  had  a  progna- 
thous face,  with  undeveloped  vocal  organs.  Before  man  had 
articulate  language  he  bore  a  muzzle  instead  of  a  face. 

With  this  brief  examination  of  the  human  face 
in  profile,  let  us  take  a  front  view,  that  we  may 
better  examine  its  structure  and  the  disposition 


224  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

of  the  sense  organs  with  their  surrounding  mus* 
cles. 

We  found  it  essential  to  human  expression  that 
the  facial  outline  should  approach  the  vertical. 

We  shall  find  it  equally  essential  that  the  indi- 
vidual features  of  the  face  shall  approach  the 
horizontal. 

This  disposition  of  outline  and  features,  as 
structure,  presents  the  highest  types  of  the  hu- 
man face.  It  realizes  Aristotle's  definition  of 
beauty :  "  The  union  of  contrary  principles  hav- 
ing a  ratio  to  each  other."  These  contrary  prin- 
ciples were  held  to  be  uniformity  and  variety. 
Their  union  in  the  face  gave  the  Greek  idea  of 
its  highest  expressions  of  strength  and  beauty. 
So  we  may  state  the  law  of  expression,  ruling  in 
human  features,  as  formulated  by  the  greatest 
art  teacher  America  has  produced.  Let  us  call 
this  formula 

RIMMER'S  LAW.1 

The  highest  forms  of  the  human  face  are 
found  where  the  vertical  is  attained  in  the  fa- 
cial outline,  and  the  horizontal  is  attained  in 
the  disposition  of  the  features. 

1  It  is  but  an  act  of  simple  justice  to  say  that  in  the  author's  opin- 
ion Dr.  William  Rimmer's  Art  Anatomy  is  the  most  perfect  compen- 
dium of  artistic  knowledge,  practically  applied,  now  extant.  This 
great  teacher  and  lecturer  deserves  a  statue  of  purest  marble.  He  is 
still  held  in  the  memories  of  those  students  who  listened  to  his  art 
lectures  with  a  warmth  of  regard  approaching  reverence. 

The  book  contains  nearly  900  drawings,  illustrating  in  the  fullest 
manner  the  movements  and  purposes  of  the  human  form  in  the  ex« 
pressions  of  the  passions.  Houghton  and  Mifflin,  Boston,  1884. 


EXPRESSIONS  OF  THE  FACE.  225 

A  few  simple  lines  will  illustrate  the  force  of 
fchis  law :  — 

PLAN  OF  THE  DISPOSITION  OF  THE  FEATURES  IN  THE  OFFENSIVE  PASSIONS. 
Arrogance.  Anger. 

Pride.  Rage. 

Contempt.  "^^h.  .^  Revenge. 

Hatred.  Jealousy. 

N  f 

Features  *,      "^  towards  vertical. 

PLAN  OF  THE  DISPOSITION  OF  THE  FEATURES  IN  HARMONIOUS  MOODS. 
Calmness.  Benevolence. 

Contentment.  /  >»  Charity. 

^^^        '  ^"^^ 

Dignity.  Wisdom. 

Serenity.  Harmony. 

Repose. 

Features  '-'xf'O21*  horizontal. 

(d.)  Let  the  student  study  critically  these  lines,  for  in 
their  disposition  and  arrangement  lurks  the  secret  of  beauty 
as  defined  by  Winckelmann.  Said  this  great  master  of  theo^ 
retic  art :  "  Beauty  consists  in  harmony,  unity,  and  sim- 
plicity. All  beauty  is  heightened  by  unity  and  simplicity, 
as  is  everything  which  we  do  or  say. 

"If  we  consider  a  form  in  separate  pieces,  it  loses 
thereby ;  when  we  coordinate  all  the  parts  into  a  whole, 
beauty  comes  into  it. 

"  The  forms  of  a  beautiful  body  are  determined  by  lines, 
the  centre  of  which  is  constantly  changing,  and  which  if 
continually  produced  would  never  describe  circles.  They 
are  consequently  more  simple,  but  at  the  same  time  more 
complex,  than  a  circle  which,  however  large  or  small  it  may 
be,  always  has  the  same  centre,  and  either  includes  others 
or  is  included  in  others." 
15 


226  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

In  studying  the  two  figures  the  first  will  illustrate  de- 
partures from  both  Rimmer's  and  Winckelmann's  laws. 

It  will  be  seen  that  eight  lines  give  the  key  to  the  expres- 
sions of  the  animal  passions.  With  man  these  passions  find 
their  root  in  the  Vital  Being.  Hence  savages  show  their 
gross  psychic  natures  through  strong  Vital  gestures  of  the 
features  drawn  away  from  the  horizontal.  As  man  emerges 
from  savage  conditions  the  features  constantly  tend  towards 
the  horizontal. 

As  an  exercise  in  determining  the  lines  of  passion,  let 
the  student  pronounce  the  name  of  the  passion,  —  as  for  in- 
stance, pride,  —  and  then  note  which  of  the  eight  lines  are 
engaged  in  the  portrayal  when  he  attempts  to  illustrate  by 
calling  to  mind  strongly  the  passion. 

We  may  then  conclude,  from  these  considera- 
tions, that  the  highest  forms  of  human  expres- 
sion —  those  springing  from  the  Mental  and 
Emotive  Being  —  will  combine  and  summarize 
the  two  principles  we  have  stated,  namely,  the 
law  governing  the  outline  and  the  law  governing 
the  disposition  of  the  features. 

(e.)  The  ideal  Greek  face  will  best  illustrate  these  two 
principles.  In  faces  which  we  call  beautiful  we  find  the 
antithesis  of  all  that  we  pronounce  ugly.  Let  us  consider 
the  separate  features  presented  by  the  best  specimens  of 
Greek  art :  — 

1.  A  forehead,  tracing  the  line  of  the  vertical,  or  perhaps 
protruding  a  little  beyond  the  vertical,  accompanied  by  a 
slight  recession  of  the  jaws.  2.  Cheek-bones  so  small  as  to 
be  scarcely  traceable.  3.  Bridge  of  nose  so  high  as  to  be 
nearly  on  a  line  with  the  forehead.  4.  The  alas  of  the 
nose  joining  the  face  with  only  slight  obliquity,  and  in  front 
view  the  nostrils  scarcely  seen.  5.  Mouth  small,  upper  lip 
short  and  its  line  bow-shaped.  6.  The  outer  angles  of  the 
eye  directed  slightly  downward  from  the  horizontal.  7. 
Well-defined  frontal  sinuses,  but  not  too  large. 


EXPRESSIONS  OF  THE  FACE.  227 

The  antitheses  of  these  points  of  structure  and  disposi- 
tion of  features  produce  ugliness.  They  are  as  well  signs 
of  mental  and  moral  inferiority.  They  show  the  sway  of 
the  baser  passions,  and  the  descent  towards  the  animal 

The  face  presents  three  centres  of  motion. 
The  moving  agents — the  muscles — group  them- 
selves around  these  centres. 

These  centres  are  also  the  seat  of  the  three 
most  expressive  organs  of  sense. 

These  groups  of  muscles  surround  the  eyes, 
the  nose,  and  the  mouth. 

So?  each  of  the  three  zones  of  the  face  pre- 
sents its  form  and  its  centre  of  motion. 

Thus  the  frontal  zone  presents  the  forehead 
as  form,  and  the  eye  and  brow  as  motion. 

The  nasal  zone  presents  the  nose  as  form  and 
the  nostrils  as  motion. 

The  maxillary  zone  presents  the  jaws  as  form 
and  the  lips  as  motion. 

The  human  face  is  a  study  of  form  and  mo- 
tion. And  it  is  upon  our  estimate  of  the  sig- 
nificance of  these  two  elements  that  we  almost 
unconsciously  judge  the  man.  In  solving  the 
problem  we  rapidly  coordinate  the  presentation 
made  by  form  and  motion  :  — 

1.  The  whole  face  is  passed  in  review  as  at 
rest,  the  relative  force  and  value  of  the  forms 
presented   are  coordinated,  and  we   pronounce 
our  estimate  of  the  character. 

2.  The  face  in  motion  is  scanned,  the  present 
or  instant  mood  is  perceived  by  intuition  or  "  di- 


228  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

rect  beholding  "  of  certain  arrangements  of  the 
moving  parts  which  we  coordinate,  and  we  pro- 
nounce our  estimate  of  the  present  feeling. 

We  find  in  the  face,  as  in  the  other  agents  of 
expression,  three  forms  of  gesture,  namely,  bear- 
ings, attitudes,  and  inflections.1 

And  three  modes  of  motion,  eccentric,  concen- 
tric, and  poise. 

Which  reveal  the  three  states  of  the  Being, 
the  Vital,  Emotive,  and  Mental. 

Having  given  in  our  first  chapter  upon  the 
face  some  account  of  the  physical  supports  by 
the  aid  of  which  the  Psychic  manifests,  and  in 
this  chapter  having  stated  two  general  laws 
upon  which  we  conceive  expression  largely  to 
rest,  we  proceed  to  consider  the  language  of  the 
separate  parts  and  organs,  that  —  through  their 
relation  one  to  another,  and  through  motion  — 
make  the  human  face  the  most  expressive  agent 
man  has  at  his  command  through  which  to  mani- 
fest his  complex  nature.  And  as  we  have  found 
life,  mind,  and  soul,  in  each  division  of  the  body, 
we  may  reasonably  expect  to  find  these  three 
conditions  or  phases  of  the  Psychic  existing  in 
their  highest  activity  in  the  wonderful  complex- 
ity of  form,  motion,  color,  and  sensibility  —  the 
human  face. 

1  For  a  full  discussion  of  the  significance  of  bearings,  attitude^ 
and  inflections,  see  pp.  71-74. 


EXPRESSIONS  OF  THE  FACE.      229 


OF  THE  FOREHEAD. 

The  language  of  the  forehead,  as  form,  is 
Mental.  With  this  decision  all  the  physiogno- 
mists agree.  In  all  the  mammals  we  may  divide 
the  skull  into  two  parts :  (1)  the  brain  case,  and 
(2)  the  bones  of  the  face.  In  man  we  shall  find 
the  organ  of  the  mind,  the  brain,  filling  a  larger 
skull — when  compared  with  the  face  —  than  in 
any  of  the  larger  mammals. 

(a.)  The  deductions  of  the  phrenologists  Gall  and  Spurz- 
heim,  Combe  and  Fowler,  that  the  Mental  faculties  occupy 
the  frontal  regions  of  the  brain  confirm  our  decision.  So, 
common  observation  and  scientific  deduction  are  agreed 
that  the  language  of  the  forehead  is  Mental.  But  in  further 
confirmation  of  our  opinion  we  add  the  logic  of  a  structural 
law  thus  formulated  by  Sir  Charles  Bell :  — 

Outward  forms  result  from  the  degree  of  development  of 
the  contained  organs. 

We  conclude,  then,  that  a  well  developed  and  propor- 
tioned frontal  zone  indicates  intellectual  superiority. 

We  note  certain  correspondences  of  parts  of 
the  face  based  in  structure.  These  correspond- 
ences of  the  outer  declare  like  correspondences 
of  the  inner  :  — 

1.  When  the  forehead  is  low  and  retreating, 
the  cheekbones  are  large  and  projecting. 

Here  the  Vital  rules  and  the  expression  is  ani- 
mal-like. 

2.  A  fine  forehead     seldom    accompanies 
coarse  animal-like  jaws.     As  the  jaws  advance 
the  forehead  recedes. 


230  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

This  observation  has  the  force  of  law  in 
structural  development,  both  of  races  and  in- 
dividuals. 

3.  A  convex  or  rounded  forehead  indicates 
an  undeveloped  mind. 

All  babes  have  this  kind  of  forehead.  The 
simplicity  of  the  outward  form  is  an  exact  cor- 
respondence of  the  simplicity  and  homogeneity 
of  the  Psychic.  Culture  the  mind,  and  the 
convex  disappears,  the  rounded  forehead  is  in- 
vaded by  straight  lines  which  indicate  Mental 
growth.  The  homogeneous  and  simple  is  giving 
way  to  the  heterogeneous  and  complex. 

4.  The  prominence  of  the  forehead  in  form 
of  a  horizontal  ridge,  immediately  above  the 
eyebrows,  indicates  aptitude  for  long-continued 
Mental  labor. 

(b.)  The  author  finds  this  observation  confirmed  by  the 
most  profound  physiognomists,  by  Redfield,  Huatt,  Lavater, 
and  Alexander  Walker. 

We  note  a  few  indications  of  character  based 
upon  the  disposition  of  the  muscles  of  the  fore- 
head, as  shown  by  the  wrinkles  :  — 

1.  We  have  the   most   ancient  authority  of 
Aristotle,  that  a  forehead  loaded  with  wrinkles 
indicates  a  gloomy,  morose,  and  overbearing  dis- 
position.    If  these  wrinkles  are  massed  over  the 
eye  cruelty  is  indicated. 

2.  Deep   vertical   wrinkles    of    the    forehead 
show  that  the  will  has  been  greatly  exercised. 

If  these  wrinkles  are  invaded  by  horizontal 


EXPRESSIONS  OF  THE  FACE.  231 

lines  marking  the  middle  of  the  forehead,  there 
*^s  evidence  of  great  Mental  pain.  Both  Darwin l 
and  Duchenne  agree  with  this  observation. 

3.  Permanent  horizontal  wrinkles  of  the  fore- 
head are  indications  of  clemency,  good  judg- 
ment, and  habitual  poise  of  the  Being. 

(c.)  Ah !  how  time  and  the  experiences  of  life  chisel  the 
placid  faces  we  brought  into  the  realm  of  our  opening  man- 
hood !  If  the  higher  Emotive  has  held  sway  lines  of  uni- 
formity have  been  invaded  by  lines  of  variety.  Heredity 
has  let  in  our  dead  ancestors  to  peep  through  our  living 
masks.  Our  better  or  baser  environment,  social  or  busi- 
ness, has  helped  to  make  or  mar  the  mirror  of  flesh.  What 
an  ennoblement  of  form  and  feature  old  age  should  make 
us  heirs  to ! 

OF   THE    EYE. 

The  eye  is  the  centre  of  expression  both  of 
the  face  and  of  the  body.  Whatever  sensation 
or  emotion  stirs  the  other  centres,  some  single 
muscle,  or  group  of  muscles  in  the  face,  responds, 
and  the  eye  becomes,  as  it  were,  the  focal  point 
toward  which  all  the  radial  lines  of  feeling  con- 
verge. 

(d.)  The  movements  of  the  eye  are  the  measure  of  psy- 
chic activity.  The  student  will  find  that  "when  quick  move- 
ments of  the  eye  are  made  from  side  to  side,  or  up  and 

1  Darwin,  in  his  Expressions  of  the  Emotions  in  Man  and  Animals, 
introduces,  on  page  180,  a  copy  from  a  photograph  by  Duchenne  of 
a  young  man  simulating  the  influence  of  great  grief.  The  expression 
is  realistic  to  a  degree.  The  union  of  the  vertical  furrows  with  the 
transverse  furrows  in  the  middle  of  the  forehead  produces  a  mark  on 
the  forehead  like  a  horseshoe.  So  good  an  actor  was  the  young  man 
that  when  Darwin  showed  the  photograph  to  fifteen  persons  in  turn, 
fourteen  answered,  "despairing  sorrow,"  "great  grief,"  "suffering," 
"endurance,"  etc. 


232  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

down  and  around  —  even  with  no  mental  motive  —  there  is 
awakened  an  impulse  to  psychic  activity.  So  slow  move- 
ments of  the  eye  lead  to  psychic  inactivity.  Few  persons 
can  move  the  eyes  rapidly  without  a  strong  impulse  to  move 
the  body.  So,  if  the  eyes  be  intensely  fixed,  the  body  be- 
comes still. 

The  language  of  the  eye  is  Mental.  It  is  the 
controlling  agent  in  Mental  expressions. 

The  eye  and  its  surroundings  are  divided  into 
active  and  passive  agents  of  expression. 

The  eyeball  is  passive  and  receptive.  The 
eyebrow,  upper  and  lower  lids  are  active  and  ex- 
pressive. Passivity  and  receptivity  ally  them- 
selves with  the  eyeball  and  its  organized  parts. 
Activity  —  and  hence  expression  —  ally  them- 
selves with  the  brow  and  lids. 

Oken  called  this  organized  structure  of  pas- 
sivity and  activity — the  eye  —  "the  nervous  sys- 
tem in  a  state  of  purest  organization."  He  said  : 
"  In  the  eye  the  brain  unfolds  itself  in  order  to 
turn  toward  the  light." 

(e.)  The  wonderful  complexity  of  arrangement  presented 
in  the  mechanism  of  the  eye  bears  out  Oken's  seeming  ex- 
travagance of  statement.  Note  the  wealth  of  adaptation 
and  contrivance.  There  are  seven  matched  socket  bones. 
A  self-adjusting  curtain  with  its  delicate  fringes  of  hair. 
A  projecting  eyebrow.  A  ball  made  up  of  two  segments 
of  two  unequal  spheres,  one  of  the  segments  from  a  larger 
sphere  than  its  companion.  Six  muscles,  one  of  them 
geared  through  a  pulley  to  aid  in  the  revolutions  of  the 
sphere.  Oil  and  tear  glands  with  an  accompanying  waste- 
pipe.  In  front  a  transparent  lens,  the  cornea,  and  behind 
this  the  crystalline  lens  for  focussing  the  rays  of  light.  An 


EXPRESSIONS  OF  THE  FACE.  233 

expanding  and  contracting  pupil.  An  aqueous  and  vitreous 
humor.  A  sensitive  plate,  the  retina,  of  the  finest  and 
most  delicate  texture,  with  a  yellow  spot,  so  called,  where 
the  picture  seems  centred  and  where  alone  it  is  perfectly 
clear  to  vision,  the  rest  of  the  picture  being  sketched  in. 
Lastly,  the  minute  rods  and  cones  which  the  microscope 
alone  discloses,  and  where  at  last  the  known  borders  upon 
the  unknown. 

In  expression  the  eyeball  is  an  indicator.  It 
shows  the  direction  and  position  of  objects  in 
the  spaces  of  two  worlds. 

It  never  expresses  passion.  It  simply  looks 
toward  the  object  that  occasions  the  passion. 

(/.)  This  can  easily  be  shown.  If  we  cover  the  lower 
part  of  the  face,  including  the  mouth  and  the  alae  of  the  nose, 
and  then  give  as  full  an  expression  as  possible  of  anger  or 
rage  —  putting  into  the  look  the  utmost  force  and  fierceness 
—  the  most  critical  observer  cannot  tell  whether  we  de- 
signed to  express  anger  or  rage,  or  were  merely  looking  in- 
tently at  some  object. 

The  function  of  the  eye  is  to  look  out  and  to 
look  at.  This  is  true  of  all  the  mammals.  With 
man  alone  has  it  an  added  function,  namely,  to 
look  inwards  or  in  upon. 

So  the  human  eye  has  but  two  expressions ; 
but  if  we  combine  these  two  with  the  expressions 
of  the  fifty-five  muscles  of  the  face,  we  need 
many  figures  to  sum  up  the  whole  delicate  play 
of  the  moving  mirror. 

The  two  expressions  of  the  human  eye  are: 
(1.)  Attention.  (2.)  Intention. 

The  eye  is  attentive  when  it  looks  outward, 
towards,  or  at,  an  object. 


234  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

It  is  intentive1  when  it  looks  inwards,  or  to- 
wards the  subject  or  Ego. 

(g.)  The  student  will  note  that  these  two  movements  of 
the  eye,  eccentric  and  concentric,  show  the  relations  of  the 
mind  towards  object  and  subject.  The  mind  looks  at,  and 
gets  data  for  reflection ;  it  looks  in,  and  reflects  upon  the 
data  it  has  gathered. 

And  it  is  not  a  forced  inference,  but  one  founded  in  COP- 
respondence,  that  the  eye  —  like  the  globe  which  it  types  — 
would  make  an  entire  revolution,  in  our  reflective  states,  and 
look  in  upon  its  material  empire  of  thought,  the  brain,  did 
not  its  physical  limitations  forbid. 

It  does  the  next  best  thing.  It  closes  its  shutters,  shuts 
out  the  light,  and  gives  the  Ego  a  chance  to  retire  that  it 
may  reflect  or  contemplate  ! 

And  we  shall  find  that  the  amount  of  closure  of  the  lids 
over  the  globe  of  the  eye  corresponds  with  the  amount  of 
intentive  activity. 

The  structure  of  the  eye  discloses  its  primary 
function  to  be  that  of  outseeing,  and  that  the 
function  of  inseeing  came  only  with  the  develop- 
ment of  the  Mental  nature.  In  man  and  all 
mammals  the  eye,  in  structure,  is  a  camera.  In 
simple  fact,  it  is  a  box  and  lenses  so  arranged  as 
to  take  pictures  of  external  objects  upon  a  plate 
of  sensitive  nerve  structure,  the  retina. 

Its  primary  function  being  to  let  the  mind  see, 
it,  of  necessity,  must  face  the  object,  just  as  if 
the  photographer  wishes  to  take  a  picture,  he 
must  place  the  camera  in  position  to  receive  the 
impression. 

1  A  word  happily  usqd  by  the  old  psychologists.  It  is  thus  defined 
by  Locke.  Intention  is  when  the  mind  with  great  earnestness  and  of 
choice  fixes  its  view  on  any  idea,  considers  it  on  every  side,  and  will 
not  be  called  off  by  the  ordinary  solicitation  of  other  ideas. 


EXPRESSIONS  OF  THE  FACE.  235 

These  two  functions,  then,  of  outseeing  and 
of  inseeing,  will  account  for  a  very  large  num- 
ber of  expressions. 

(A.)  There  are  clearly  two  roots  from  which  spring  the 
large  body  of  gestures  that  make  up  human  expression  :  — 

(a.)  The  objective.  Performing  t/ie  act  because  it  is  of 
service  in  the  support  of  life  or  some  of  its  interests. 

(b.)  The  subjective.  Using  the  gesture  as  a  symbol  or 
correspondence  of  some  psychic  state. 

Exaggerate  the  act  of  looking  at,  or  physical 
seeing,  and  you  have  gestures  of  perception  or 
mental  seeing. 

Note  carefully  the  action  of  the  eye  in  the 
following  series :  — 

1.  Interest  in  an  object  or  subject  opens  the 
eyes  to  take  the  impression. 

2.  Curiosity  slightly  exaggerates  the  act  of 
physical  seeing. 

3.  Surprise  adds  somewhat  more  to  the  strength 
of  the  action. 

4.  Joy  still  further  exaggerates  the  action. 

5.  Hope  adds  to  the  action  of  outseeing. 

6.  Ecstacy,  the  sight  of  the  seer,  the  vision  of 
the  mystic ;  utmost  exaggeration  of  physical  out- 
seeing. 

And  the  antithesis  of  all  these  acts  of  out- 
seeing  holds  true  in  another  class  of  feelings. 

Thus,  exaggerate  the  act  of  physical  not-see- 
ing and  we  have  gestures  of  reflection  or  mental 
inseeing :  — 

1.  A  want  of  interest  in  an  object  or  subject 


236  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

turns  away  the  eyes,  that  no  impression  may  be 
taken,  or, 

2.  A  desire  to  think  about  or  reflect  upon 
what  has  been  seen  or  perceived  closes  the  eyes 
that  there  may  be  no  disturbance  of  the  think- 
ing. 

We  present  two  series  :  — 

1st  Series :  Dissent,  depreciation,  disdain,  dis- 
gust. 

Note  how  the  eyes  rule  the  expression !  In 
dissent  the  head  aids  the  gentle  closure  of  the 
eyes  by  presenting  the  correspondence  of  un- 
stable equilibrium.  The  Ego  says  :  "  You  see  I 
am  out  of  poise  regarding  your  proposition." 

Depreciation.  The  eyes  first  look  askance  at 
the  object,  then  are  partly  closed  and  turned 
away.  The  head  assists  by  a  gesture  thrown  ob- 
liquely upwards. 

Disdain  adds  to  the  gestures  of  depreciation 
motions  of  the  nose  and  mouth. 

Disgust  adds  to  the  gestures  of  disdain  stronger 
gestures  of  nose  and  mouth,  as  though  the  Ego 
said :  "  You  are  an  offense  to  my  eyes,  nose,  and 
stomach." 

2d  Series:  Reflection,  meditation,  self-exami- 
nation, thoughtful  consideration. 

In  this  series  the  eyelids  close  over  the  ball. 
The  amount  of  closure  and  the  stillness  of  the 
features  show  the  amount  of  self-introspection. 
The  Ego  retires  to  its  Mental  centre,  reflects,  com' 
munes,  absorbs  itself  in  thought. 


EXPRESSIONS  OF  THE  FACE.  237 

This  conscious  slow  movement  and  approach  of 
the  eyelids  to  cover  the  globe  of  the  eye  is  a 
purely  human  gesture.  No  animal  save  man 
makes  it.  The  mammals  nearest  him  in  struc- 
ture close  the  eyes  in  fatigue,  and  sleep,  or  from 
extreme  irritation.  With  man,  the  slow  openings 
and  closures  of  the  lids  are  attitudes,  and  are 
vastly  significant  of  reflective  states. 

(i.)  It  is  a  matter  of  common  observation,  that  round  and 
open-eyed  people  see  much  and  live  much  in  the  senses,  but 
think  little  and  reflect  less. 

Narrow- eyed  people,  on  the  contrary,  see  less  objectively, 
but  vastly  more  subjectively,  and  think  much.  Observe  the 
eyes  of  the  child,  how  open  and  round  they  are  !  He  lives 
to  receive  impressions.  He  is  full  of  outseeing  impulse  and 
desire ;  for  curiosity  is  an  inheritance  dating  back  to  his  ear- 
liest ancestors.  All  the  while  he  is  gathering  materials, 
moved  by  motives  that  are  a  near  approach  to  the  instincts 
of  animals  who  lay  in  a  store  for  winter. 

What  shall  turn  his  eyes  inward  ?  When  will  he  reflect  ? 
when  reason  ?  Fear  not ;  his  schoolmaster  is  as  old  as  Adam, 
and  always  abroad !  His  name  is  Experience.  He  turns 
our  errors,  our  neglects,  our  failures,  our  ambitions  —  all 
our  shortsightedness  and  round  and  open-eyed  seeing  —  to 
good  account.  He  compels  us  to  see  again,  and  reflect  upon 
our  seeing. 

THE    THREE    PLANES    OF   VISION. 

It  is  through  the  eye  that  we  inhabit  space. 
The  telescope  and  the  microscope  are  complemen- 
tary eyes,  through  which  we  discover  the  infinity 
of  the  great  in  space  and  the  infinity  of  the  little 
in  structure. 

And  we  have  shown  how  it  is  that,  through 


238  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

correspondences  of  vision,  our  gestures  bear  a 
constant  and  fixed  relation  to  the  visible  hemi- 
sphere. 

Hence  the  three  planes  which  man  alone  sur- 
veys, —  the  planes  of  Equality,  the  Inferior,  and 
the  Superior. 

The  globe  of  the  eye,  in  outseeing,  sweeps 
through  180°  of  a  circle.  Like  the  hand,  it 
traces,  by  its  motion,  vertical  lines  from  zenith  to 
nadir.  And  it  traces  lines  parallel  with  the  hori- 
zon through  180°. 

By  this  means  it  surveys  the  three  zones  of 
two  spheres, — the  objective  and  the  subjective 
spheres. 

Thus  man  is  conscious  that  he  stands  at  the 
centre  of  the  Universe,  and  projects  radial  lines 
from  where  he  stands  into  the  infinite  spaces. 

In  his  littleness,  he  is  a  finite  speck  of  matter 
crawling  upon  the  face  of  a  cosmic  sphere;  in 
his  greatness,  he  is  a  Soul  who  creates  anew  the 
orderly  procedure,  unfolding,  and  continuance  of 
the  Kosmos. 


CHAPTER  XV. 

THE  HUMAN  FACE  AS  AN  AGENT  OF  EXPRESSION 
(CONCLUDED). 

OF  THE  EYEBROW. 

WE  have  found  that  the  globe  of  the  eye, 
through  structure  and  function,  is  an  indicator. 
The  eyebrow  is  a  revelator.  The  eye  without  the 
brow  simply  sees.  It  takes  no  active  part  in  ex- 
pressing passion.  With  open  lids  it  sees  the 
outer.  It  closes  the  lids  when  it  would  see  the 
inner. 

The  language  of  the  eyebrow  is  Mental  in  sig- 
nificance. With  primitive  man,  we  may  say  that 
its  language  was  Mento-Vital. 

(a.)  With  primitive  man,  surrounded  by  the  complex 
phenomena  of  nature,  curiosity  must  have  been  wonderfully 
active.  It  is  so  to-day  in  our  present  races  of  savages,  and 
in  all  children. 

The  desire  to  see  a  new  object  leads ;  the  desire  to  take  it 
in  hand  follows.  Note  the  action  of  the  eyebrow. 

Says  Darwin : 1  "  Attention,  if  sudden  and  close,  gradu- 
ates into  surprise,  and  this  into  astonishment,  and  this  into 
stupefied  amazement.  Attention  is  shown  by  the  eyebrows 
being  slightly  raised ;  and  as  this  state  increases  into  surprise 
they  are  raised  to  a  much  greater  extent." 

1  See  Expressions  of  the  Emotions  in  Man  and  Animals,  p.  279,  chap, 
xii.  D.  Appleton  &  Co.,  New  York. 


240  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

The  degree  of  the  raising  of  the  eyebrows  is  a  measure  of 
the  degree  of  the  surprise. 

Primarily,  then,  the  eyebrow  was  raised  in  order  more 
plainly  to  see  the  object,  that  the  Mental  nature  might  draw 
its  inferences. 

But  this  Mental  gesture,  growing  out  from  the 
root  of  simple  curiosity,  coordinates  with  gestures 
of  other  zones  of  the  face,  if  the  Vital  and  Emo- 
tive natures  invade  the  Mental  condition.  Thus, 
if  surprise  and  astonishment  are  followed  by  fear, 
terror,  and  horror,  the  other  muscles  of  the  face 
join  in  forming  the  expression.1  From  the  cen- 
tres of  the  mouth  and  nose  the  Vital  and  Emo- 
tive natures  would  add  their  expressive  gestures. 
The  whole  body  would  sympathize  with  these 
facial  movements.  In  horror,  the  platysma  would 
make  the  neck  rigid  and  wrinkled,  the  muscles 
of  respiration  would  add  their  expression,  sweat 
would  exude  from  the  pores  of  the  skin,  and  trem- 
blings shake  the  bodily  frame. 

Through  the  action  of  the  eye  and  eyebrow, 
coordinated  with  gestures  from  the  other  zones  of 
the  face,  we  have  revelations  from  the  Vital  and 
Emotive  natures. 

We  conclude,  then,  that  reasonable  deductions 
from  both  structure  and  function  will  declare  the 
expression  of  the  eyebrow  to  be  Mental. 

1  This  statement  that  other  muscles  must  coordinate  with  the  gesture 
of  the  eyebrow  is  fully  justified  by  the  remarkable  experiments  of  Dr. 
Duchenne.  He  has  shown  in  one  of  his  photographs  (see  Me'canisme 
de  la  physionomie  humaine)  that  a  widely-opened  mouth,  with  eyebrows 
9nly  slightly  raised,  results  in  a  meaningless  grimace. 


EXPRESSIONS  OF  THE  FACE.  241 

(b.)  Students  of  Delsarte  in  America,  and  Delaumosne 
and  Arnaud  in  France,  have  represented  him  —  the  latter 
by  implication,  though  nowhere  directly  —  as  teaching  the 
following  as  the  language  of  the  active  agents  of  the  eye  :  — 

In  expression,  the  eyebrow  is  Mental;  the  upper  lid  is 
"Moral;"  the  lower  lid  is  Vital. 

The  author  of  this  treatise  prefers  the  statement  that  the 
three  states  of  the  Being  reveal  themselves  as  blends  or  com- 
posites through  these  active  agents.  He  has  not  yet  found 
reason  to  adopt  the  division  accredited  to  Delsarte  by  these 
representatives. 

By  the  same  authority,  Delsarte  is  represented  as  giving 
the  following  as  the  expressions  of  the  organic  parts  of  the 
passive  agent,  —  the  eyeball :  — 

The  white  of  the  eye  is  Vital  in  expression ;  the  pupil  is 
Mental ;  the  iris  is  <•  Moral."  x 

While  the  firm  and  tenacious  structure  of  the  sclerotic 
coat,  which  covers  the  posterior  four  fifths  of  the  eyeball, 
may  give  some  ground  for  the  inference  that  the  white  of  the 
eye  is  Vital  in  significance,  it  is  extremely  hazardous  to  at- 
tempt to  connect  the  pupil  with  the  Mental,  or  the  iris  with 
the  Emotive  (Moral)  nature.  While  we  can  find  no  satis- 
factory basis  for  these  divisions  of  the  eyeball,  nearly  all 
physiognomic  authorities  agree  in  regarding  the  eye  as  the 
centre  of  Mental  expression. 

1  While  the  above  lines  were  being  written  the  author  received  the 
latest  contribution  to  the  Delsarte  literature,  —  The  Delsarte  System  of 
Dramatic  Expression,  by  Miss  Genevieve  Stebbins,  —  which  is  sup- 
posed to  reflect  the  teachings  of  Delsarte  through  Mr.  Steele  Mackaye. 
We  quote  Miss  Stebbins  (p.  138) :  "The  pupil  is  Mental;  the  white 
is  Vital ;  the  iris  is  '  Moral.'  " 

We  are  constrained  to  ask  whether  there  is  any  basis,  founded  in 
fact,  or  in  fair  inference,  for  the  idea  that  the  pupil  is  Mental  and  the 
iris  "Moral"  in  expression,  except  a  blind  adherence  to  "the  univer- 
sal formula,"  which  Delsarte  conceived  must  apply  "  to  all  sciences,  to 
all  things  possible,"  — the  formula  of  the  Trinity  ?  This  unsupported 
inference  may  some  day  be  proven  to  be  fact.  We  submit  whether 
there  be  at  present  sufficient  data  for  its  application  to  the  organic 
structure,  —  the  eyeball  ?  . 
16 


242  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

We  cannot  leave  this  part  of  our  subject  with- 
out making  an  observation  of  value  in  determin- 
ing many  complex  expressions  in  which  the  eye 
leads. 

It  will  furnish  the  key  to  a  large  number  of 
complex  psychic  states. 

The  corrugators  (muscles  that  knit  the  brows) 
are  muscles  of  the  will. 

If  now  we  accept  the  empirical  statement  of 
Delsarte,  that  the  will  lends  itself  to  whichever 
state  of  the  Being  dominates  consciousness,  we 
shall  find  that  the  surrounding  muscles  of  the 
eyes  in  connection  with  the  corrugators  give  ex- 
pressions in  which  we  may  detect  blends  or  com- 
posite states  of  the  Being. 

Let  us  illustrate  by  first  naming  the  objective 
and  subjective  elements  that  must  enter  into  our 
problem  :  — 

1.  The  three  sides  or  phases  of  the  Being, 
Vital,  Emotive,  and  Mental. 

2.  The  three  modes  of  motion,  eccentric,  con- 
centric, and  poise. 

3.  The  agents  of  the  Being,  the  eyes,  the  eye- 
brows, lids,  and  corrugators. 

4.  The  determining  power  or  will,  the  imme- 
diate agent  of  the  Ego. 

Of  these  agencies,  the  first  and  fourth  are  in- 
terior. The  second  and  third  are  exterior. 

The  motion  of  the  exterior  agencies  in  space 
and  time  corresponds  with  the  quality,  amount, 
and  intensity  of  the  passion. 


EXPRESSIONS  OF  THE  FACE.  243 

Take  one  of  the  primitive  passions,  that  of 
astonishment,  and  note  the  action  of  the  external 
agents. 

1.  Astonishment:  Presented  through  the  ac- 
tive agents  of  the  eye  as  a  composite  or  blend  of 
the  three  states  of  the  Psychic. 

The  eyes  in  astonishment  are  wide  open,  the 
eyeballs  are  parallel,  the  lids  and  brows  are 
raised.  The  motion  is  first  eccentric,  and  then 
poised. 

We  quote  Darwin :  "  Astonishment  is  ex- 
pressed the  world  over  with  remarkable  uniform- 
ity." The  Vital  act  is  that  of  trying  hard  to 
see  a  material  object.  The  Mental  and  Emotive 
acts  are  those  of  trying  hard  to  see  a  mental  ob- 
ject. So,  we  find  the  Vital  nature  leading  the 
expression  in  beasts,  —  more  especially  with 
the  carnivora,  —  in  savages,  and  in  all  children. 
It  is  the  Mental  blend,  Mento- Vital,  in  civilized 
children  that  gives  the  peculiar  round-eyed  ex- 
pression of  wonder. 

In  intense  astonishment  these  expressions  of 
the  eyes  are  assisted  by  other  agents.  The  whole 
body  is  stilled.  There  is  a  cessation  of  breath- 
ing. The  lower  jaw  falls  and  the  mouth  is  wide 
open.  It  is  curious,  too,  that  several  races  of 
men  in  astonishment  give  a  prolonged  whistle. 
This  whistling  sound  is  often  condensed  into  the 
interjection  whew  ! 

Note,  too,  the  correspondence  which  astonish- 
ment makes  with  space.  We  again  quote  Dar- 


244  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

win :  "A  surprised  person  often  raises  his  opened 
hands  high  above  his  head,  or  by  bending  his 
arms  only  to  the  level  of  his  face.  The  flat 
palms  are  directed  toward  the  person  who  causes 
the  surprise,  and  the  straightened  fingers  are 
separated." 

If  the  student  would  reflect  through  gesture 
the  astonishment  of  primitive  man,  when  con- 
fronted by  something  unusually  startling  and 
unexpected,  let  him  with  a  single  impulse  give 
the  following  action  :  — 

(a.)  Open  eyes  and  mouth  very  widely.  (6.) 
Draw  in  forcibly  the  breath,  (c.)  Throw  both 
arms  above  the  head,  (d.)  React  with  the  whole 
body. 

2.  Firmness  :  In  astonishment,  or  in  lighter 
manifestations  of  the  same  emotion, — as  wonder, 
curiosity,  or  admiration,  —  it  will  be  noticed  that 
the  corrugator  muscles  were  not  called  into  ac- 
tion. But  firmness  is  so  nearly  allied  to  the  will 
that  we  may  define  it  as  "  will  in  action." 

Now,  in  the  knitting  of  the  brow,  by  the  ac- 
tion of  the  corrugators,  we  have  the  external 
sign  which  the  eyes  give  of  all  the  emotions  that 
ally  themselves  with  firmness.  All  the  aggres- 
sive gestures  of  whatever  agent  of  the  body  are 
accompanied  by  the  action  of  these  muscles  of 
the  will. 

(c.)  Dr.  Duchenne,  in  his  "  Mecanisme  de  la  physionomie 
humaine,"  calls  the  corrugator  the  muscle  of  reflection. 
This  is  only  true  when  in  our  reflective  moods  we  meet  with 


EXPRESSIONS  OF  THE  FACE.  245 

opposition.  Thinking,  pure  and  simple,  stills  the  face ;  the 
brow  remains  smooth  until  some  obstacle  in  our  thinking 
arises,  then  a  frown  passes  over  the  forehead.  The  frown 
is  the  outer  correspondence  of  "  force  in  will."  No  gesture 
of  the  face  is  truer  to  its  office.  Says  Darwin :  "  Men  of 
all  races  frown  when  they  are  in  any  way  perplexed  in 
thinking."  And  Sir  Charles  Bell  ranks  the  corrugator  as 
"  the  most  remarkable  muscle  of  the  human  face,"  and 
says  :  "  When  the  eyebrows  are  knit  energy  of  mind  is  ap- 
parent." 

If  firmness  as  a  Mental  condition  is  strongly 
invaded  by  the  Vital  and  Emotive  natures,  we 
find  added  to  the  gesture  we  have  already  given 
— the  knitting  of  the  brow —  strong  gestures  of 
the  mouth  and  clenched  fists,  showing  a  tend- 
ency to  revert  to  the  savage  and  Vital  rage  of 
our  remote  ancestors. 

3.  Stupor :  Nothing  could  be  adduced  that 
more  strongly  argues  the  immanence  of  the  Soul 
in  the  body  than  the  appearance  of  the  external 
in  stupor.  In  this  state  the  Mental  and  Emotive 
are  paralyzed.  The  Vital  makes  an  instinctive 
effort  to  restore  order  in  the  physical  realm. 
But  the  will  lends  no  assistance.  This  condi- 
tion of  affairs  leads  to  the  following  gestures  of 
the  face. 

There  is  first  a  struggle  of  the  Vital  to  com- 
pass the  act  of  seeing ;  so  the  eyebrows  are  raised 
and  the  lids  lifted.  The  eyeballs,  unable  to  ad- 
just themselves  so  as  to  take  an  impression,  are 
slightly  turned  upwards.  All  the  muscles  of  the 
face  are  relaxed  and  the  jaw  drops.  It  is  clear 


246  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

that  for  the  time  the  Mental  and  Emotive  na- 
tures are  helpless.  And  if  the  most  persistent 
psychic  force — the  life  element — cannot  restore 
order  in  the  physical  realm,  so  that  the  Mental 
rule  may  be  established,  the  phenomena  called 
death  will  ring  down  the  curtain  and  close  the 
drama. 

(d.)  No  matter  what  estimate  may  be  given  as  to  the 
purely  philosophic  value  of  the  division  of  the  Psychic  into 
the  three  natures,  Vital,  Emotive,  and  Mental,  the  teacher 
will  find  the  division  of  great  practical  value  in  his  work 
with  students.  So  definite  and  clearly  marked  are  the  ex- 
ternal gestures  of  each  of  these  three  states  of  the  Being 
that  the  student  soon  comes  to  regard  them  as  three  person- 
alities, each  ready,  in  turn  and  on  occasion,  to  invade  con- 
sciousness and  to  assume  the  role  of  chief  actor. 

The  author  is  confident  that  the  expression  of  whatever 
passion,  based  upon  such  an  analysis,  will  attain  a  degree 
of  definiteness  and  clearness  of  outline  impossible  to  be  at- 
tained under  the  old  systems.1 

And  why  not,  if  manifestations  clearly  show  that  the 
three  phases  of  the  Psychic  can  seize  the  body  and  express 
themselves  through  it  ? 

We  therefore  postulate,  with  Hermann  Lotze,  the  exist- 
ence of  an  entity  called  the  Soul,  which  inhabits  and  mani- 
fests through  its  body. 

The  greatest  of  purely  subjective  thinkers,  Hegel,  has 
given  such  a  wonderful  analysis  of  the  passions  that  we 
may  be  excused  if  we  quote  him. 

Like  Oken,  he  connects  expression  intimately  with  "  the 
entity  called  the  Soul."  To  read  his  realistic  sketches  is 

1  The  author  of  this  treatise  may  be  excused,  perhaps,  by  teachers 
of  expression,  if  he  emphasize  the  value  of  the  method  above  named. 
He  has  taught  the  large  classes  of  the  Boston  School  of  Oratory  by  its 
use,  and  with  a  degree  of  success  which  he  is  certain  could  not  result 
from  purely  abstract  methods. 


EXPRESSIONS  OF  THE  FACE.  247 

good  medicine  to  one  sick  with  the  miasma  of  materialism. 
He  thus  graphically  describes  grief  as  "  that  powerless  self- 
interment  of  the  Soul."  What  could  better  describe  the  con- 
centric motion  of  the  return  of  the  Being  to  its  centre  ? 

Terror  "  is  the  collapse  of  the  Soul  before  a  seemingly 
unconquerable  antagonist." 

Shame  "is  an  anger  of  man  against  himself,  a  reaction 
against  the  contradiction  between  what  he  ought  to  be  and 
what  he  is,  a  defence  of  the  Inner  against  the  Outer." 

Laughter  "  results  from  the  perception  of  a  sudden  in- 
troversion or  immediate  contradiction,  either  physical  or 
psychical.  We  feel  our  substantial  poise  or  balance,  the  in- 
substantial balance  of  another  amuses  us.  So  the  Inner 
immediately  suffuses  the  smiling  countenance,  while  the 
Ego's  repulsion  of  the  ridiculous  is  expressed  through  the 
voice  by  repeated  sudden  explosions  of  sound  —  ha!  ha! 
ha!" 

OF   THE   NOSE    AND    CHEEKS. 

In  our  examination  of  the  frontal  zone  of  the 
face  we  found  form  in  the  outlines  of  the  fore- 
head, and  motion  in  the  gestures  of  the  eye  and 
its  surrounding  muscles. 

So,  in  the  nasal  zone  we  shall  find  form  in 
the  outline  of  the  nose  and  cheeks,  and  motion 
in  the  alae  of  the  nostrils. 

We  may  state,  in  the  language  of  two  great 
observers,  the  principle  ruling  the  expressions  of 
this  zone. 

Dr.  Kimmer  thus  formulates  :  — 

When  the  nose  attains  its  highest  develop- 
ment the  Vital  or  animal  ceases  to  rule  the  ex- 
pression. 

And  Oken:  The  human  face  approaches  per- 


248  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

fection  when   the  nose   is  parallel  with   the 
spinal  column. 

(a.)  To  these  conclusions  of  a  great  teacher  of  art  an- 
atomy, and  of  a  great  philosophic  observer,  we  may  add 
that  of  a  great  artist,  Michael  Angelo  :  "  The  stronger  the 
deviation  of  the  nose  from  the  vertical,  the  further  the  face 
deviates  from  a  perfect  form." 

The  Greek  nose  is  the  most  ideally  human  of  all  the  fea- 
tures ;  all  other  noses  are  a  compromise  with  animalism. 

There  is  a  substantial  agreement  among  close 
observers  that  the  form  of  the  nose  is  an  index  of 
character.  Thus,  Lavater,  Eedfield,  Alexander 
Walker,  Gratiolet,  and  physiognomists  generally, 
agree  that  large  hooked  noses  indicate  a  love  of 
power,  desire  to  rule,  acquisitiveness,  aggressive- 
ness; while  the  opposite  type — the  thin,  straight, 
and  finely -fashioned  nose  —  indicates  sensitive- 
ness, delicacy,  a  retiring  and  unaggressive  char- 
acter, and  decided  aesthetic  tastes. 

(b.)  A  study  of  the  nose  in  the  accredited  busts  or  por- 
traits of  Caesar  or  Napoleon  will  reveal  in  every  line  the  vast 
ambitions  of  these  colossal  characters. 

The  depression  of  the  bridge  of  the  nose  and 
the  forward  opening  of  the  nostrils  are  allied 
with  animal  features ;  and  wide  -  spread  nostrils, 
opening  outwards,  usually  accompany  staring 
eyes,  and  denote  "  frog-like  stupidity."  * 

(c.)  Dr.  Rimmer  declares  that  a  high  nose  is  seldom  found 
in  a  face  of  the  animal  type. 

1  Let  a  beginner,  says  Le  Brun,  draw  a  head,  and  the  face  will  al- 
ways bear  an  expression  of  stupidity,  —  never  one  of  malignity.  Is  not 
this  an  important  fact  ?  Stupidity  is  incongruity. 


EXPRESSIONS  OF  THE  FACE.  249 

The  phrenologist,  Gall,  associated  amsuality 
with  a  flat  nose. 

(d.)  It  is  related  of  Socrates  that  Zophyrus  told  this  wisest 
of  the  Greeks  that  the  shape  of  his  nose  indicated  a  tendency 
to  drunkenness,  theft,  brutality,  and  lasciviousness ;  to  which 
the  great  philosopher  replied  that  such  were  his  natural  dis- 
positions, which  he  had  striven  to  conquer. 

Stated  broadly,  we  may  conclude  that  the  lan- 
guage of  the  nasal  zone  is  Emotive  in  expres- 
sion. The  nostrils  are  Vital,  as  primary  expres- 
sion, but  their  gestures,  in  our  present  civilization, 
show  blends  of  the  Mental  and  Emotive. 

(e.)  That  the  nostrils  are  Vital  as  their  primary  expres- 
sion both  structure  and  function  seem  to  confirm.  As  struc- 
ture, they  are  cartilages  moved  by  muscles  and  excited  by 
motor  nerves  proceeding  from  the  fifth  pair. 

These  same  nerves  also  excite  the  lungs  to  action.  In 
function,  the  nostrils  are  connected  with  the  Vital  act  of 
breathing,  and  they  pulsate  with  the  outgoing  and  incoming 
breath  in  animal  excitement.  Shakespeare,  in  "  King  Henry 
V.,"  allies  their  action  with  the  Vital :  — 

"  Now  set  the  teeth  and  stretch  the  nostril  -wide ; 
Hold  hard  the  breath."  —  ACT  III.  Sc.  I. 

So  both  structure  and  function  seem  to  pro- 
nounce the  language  of  the  nostrils  to  be  Vital, 
though  fine  Mental  and  Emotive  blends  arise  from 
this  gross  animal  root. 

OF   THE    EAR. 

Oken  has  somewhere  said :  "  Seeing  gives  us  a 
consciousness  of  the  universe ;  hearing,  a  con- 
sciousness of  self." 


250  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

The  anatomist  divides  the  human  ear  into  three 
divisions,  —  the  external,  middle,  and  internal. 
It  is  in  the  inner  ear  that  the  process  of  hearing 
completes  itself.  There,  hidden  in  the  deep  cav- 
ity of  the  skull,  securely  locked  in  a  bony  case, 
are  the  complicated  terminal  organs  of  the  ear. 
It  is  here  that  the  auditory  nerve  penetrates  the 
solid  structure  of  the  skull,  and  embraces  with  its 
minute  filaments  the  wonderfully  delicate  and 
sensitive  organs  found  in  the  labyrinth.  What 
must  be  the  subtlety  of  that  essence  that  trans- 
lates the  tremblings  of  these  minute  terminal 
points  into  that  form  of  consciousness  which  we 
call  hearing !  What  wonderful  power  of  analysis 
in  these  terminal  organs,  where  the  spiritual 
comes  out  to  make  such  subtle  contact  with  the 
material ! 

The  organ  of  Corti  —  the  nerve  key-board  of 
the  ear,  according  to  Helmholtz  —  is  a  minute 
instrument  with  about  three  thousand  sensitive 
strings.  What  wonder  that  Music  is  a  universal 
language,  which  every  one  has  learned  he  knows 
not  where,  that  every  one  understands  he  knows 
not  why?  Music  is  consciousness  communing 
with  itself.  And  in  some  moods,  listening  to 
music,  we  hear  our  whole  Being  discourse.  In 
such  moments  the  soul  pours  forth  a  flood  of  rem- 
iniscences, which  we  fail  to  account  for  as  belong- 
ing wholly  to  our  mundane  existence.  Indeed, 
the  author  calls  to  mind  a  sensitive  soul,  who  de- 
clared :  "  I  never  listen  to  the  dreamy  tone-f anta- 


EXPRESSIONS  OF  THE  FACE.  251 

sies  of  Chopin  but  I  am  convinced  that  I  have 
heard  those  strains  in  another  and  previous  exist- 
ence." Ah !  that  the  breath  and  haze  of  an  at- 
mosphere of  music  can  so  sense  and  type  the 
spiritual ! 

If,  then,  we  consider  the  inner  ear  in  its  inti- 
macy with  the  Soul,  we  must  pronounce  its  strong- 
est alliance  to  be  with  the  higher  Emotive  na- 
ture. 

(a.)  The  power  of  music  to  stir  the  emotions  seems  to  be 
universally  acknowledged.  But  not  until  the  amazing  re- 
searches of  Helmholtz  was  it  conjectured  that  music  had  its 
physical  basis  in  the  wave-motion  of  fluids,  and  in  the  pulsa- 
tions of  the  forma  of  energy  which  we  cover  with  the  term 
"  natural  forces." 

It  would  seem  that  everything  moves  to  measure.  In  the 
Universe  this  orderly  principle  swings  to  and  fro  like  the 
shuttle  of  a  great  loom,  and  the  soul  of  man  finds  the  high- 
est correspondence  of  this  gigantic  rhythm  in  the  tone  pulses 
of  music. 

We  can  without  violence  say  of  the  senses  that 
they  make  strong  alliances  with  the  Psychic.  Thus 
we  may  say  that  the  sense  of  seeing  is  allied  with 
the  Mental  nature,  the  sense  of  hearing  with  the 
Emotive  nature,  and  that  the  senses  of  touch 
and  taste,  and  the  muscular  sense,  make  strong 
alliance  with  the  Vital  nature. 

Delsarte  is  reported  by  Delaumosne  to  make 
the  language  of  the  external  ear  Mental  in  sig- 
nificance. 

Lavater  declares  that  a  finely  formed  and  deli- 
cately shaped  ear  indicates  Mental  sensitiveness 


252  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

and  aesthetic  tastes,  and  says:  "Nature  has  di- 
vested it  of  ornaments ;  its  dress  is  simplicity, 
delicacy,  and  completeness." 

Dr.  Rimmer  remarks :  "  A  coarse  ear  accom- 
panies coarse  hands  and  feet ;  if  the  ear  be  well 
made,  hands  and  feet  will  be  well  made." 

(b.)  An  argument  deduced  from  the  admitted  physio- 
logic truth,  that  organs  develop  in  proportion  to  the  amount 
of  their  use,  would  argue  that  the  ears  of  primitive  man  were 
Vital  in  expression. 

"  If,"  says  Darwin,  "  our  ears  had  remained  movable,  their 
gestures  would  have  been  highly  expressive  in  rage,  as  is  the 
case  with  all  animals  that  fight  with  the  teeth." 

According  to  modern  conclusions  of  the  evolutionists,  the 
ear  is  an  atrophied  organ.  In  primitive  man,  say  even  so 
recent  as  the  glacial  period,  it  was  larger  than  now  and 
easily  movable. 

The  atrophied  ear  of  to-day  has  lost  motion.  Its  Vital 
significance  has  gone.  As  form,  its  Mental  and  Emotive 
significance  is  an  element  of  considerable  strength  when  co- 
ordinated with  the  moving  features. 

OF   THE    MOUTH. 

We  have  passed  in  review  two  planes  or  zones 
of  the  face,  the  frontal  and  the  nasal,  and  have 
stated  the  reasons  for  our  inferences  that  the 
Psychic  manifests  —  as  if  by  preference  —  its 
Mental  nature  through  form  and  motion  of  the 
frontal  zone,  and  its  Emotive  nature  through  the 
form  and  motion  of  the  nasal  zone. 

If  we  accept  the  essential  expressions  of  these 
zones  as  Mental  and  Emotive,  we  shall  find  very 
strong  evidence,  in  structure,  function,  and  corre- 


EXPRESSIONS  OF  THE  FACE.  253 

spondence,  that  the  expression  of  the  third  zone 
—  the  maxillary  —  is  Vital. 

In  all  land  mammals,  except  man,  the  jaws  are 
used  for  seizing,  turning,  and  placing  food  un- 
der the  action  of  the  teeth.  This  Vital  act  was 
also  largely  an  action  of  primitive  man.  And  we 
may  say  confidently  that  if  with  man  these  or- 
gans had  held  their  primitive  function,  the 
higher  office  of  speech,  through  their  differentia- 
tion, would  have  been  an  impossibility. 

(c.)  That  the  European  of  to-day  is  quite  another  being 
from  the  quaternary  man  the  most  modern  discoveries  con- 
firm. 

Quatrefages,  speaking  of  this  far-distant  era,  says :  "  The 
climate  was  that  of  the  glacial  period,  —  ice  covered  Europe 
as  far  south  as  France.  Man  contended  with  the  fury  of 
the  elements  and  with  the  fury  of  the  carnivora." 

Of  the  Cronstadt  race,  he  says :  "  The  cranium  and  face 
must  have  presented  a  strangely  savage  aspect.  The  face 
was  prognathous,  rude,  and  massive ;  the  bones  of  the  limbs, 
thick  and  protuberant,  must  have  sustained  great  muscles. 
This  being  disputed  the  earth  with  the  great  mammals  now 
extinct." 

And  of  the  skull  of  the  Neanderthal  man,  discovered  near 
Dusseldorf  in  1857,  he  says :  "  The  frontal  sinuses  have  an 
exceptional  development,  like  the  anthropoid  apes." 

With  the  evolution  of  the  Mental  faculties 
came  a  corresponding  differentiation  of  organs 
and  functions  to  suit  the  advance. 

And  if  we  ask  ourselves  what  most  distin- 
guishes man  from  the  beasts,  the  answer  will  lead 
us  back  to  the  operative  causes  that  have  at  last 
released  the  human  mouth  from  its  primitive  ani- 
mal office.  The  distinguishing  cause  is  speech. 


254  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

The  speechless  man  of  perhaps  as  far  back  as 
the  close  of  the  tertiary  era  —  hair-clad,  large- 
muscled,  heavy-jawed,  with  coarse  lips  easily  re- 
tracted from  his  canine  teeth  —  used  the  mouth 
for  tearing  flesh  and  for  fighting. 

But  along  with  speech-development  came  a 
gradual  refinement  of  the  features :  the  jaws  be- 
gan to  release  themselves ;  the  lips  became  more 
mobile,  and  assumed  a  curve ;  the  chin  rounded 
itself;  the  cheek-bones  retreated;  the  forehead 
advanced  towards  the  vertical;  and  soon  there 
lurked  in  the  upward  turn  of  the  angle  of  the 
mouth,  and  the  raising  of  the  inner  extremity  of 
the  eyebrow,  the  first  outward  signs  of  a  sense  of 
humor,  —  that  purely  human  sense  that  came  in 
with  speech. 

Thus  the  differentiation  of  the  mouth  kept 
pace  with,  and  became  the  visible  correspondence 
of,  man's  release  from  the  Vital,  and  advance 
toward  the  heights  of  the  Mental  and  Emotive. 

Thus  at  last  he  has  become  the  animal  of  pro- 
portioned features. 

We  conclude,  then,  that  structure,  function, 
and  utility  show  that  the  primary  expressions  of 
the  maxillary  zone  were  Vito- Vital ;  and  further, 
that  the  civilized  man  of  this  nineteenth  century 
still  gives,  through  the  play  of  the  mouth,  rudi- 
ments and  faint  reflections  —  echoes,  we  may  call 
them  —  of  the  animal  gestures  of  his  savage  pro- 
genitors. 

(d.)  Darwin,  in  his  masterly  treatise,  to  which  we  have  so 


EXPRESSIONS  OF  THE  FACE.  255 

often  referred  the  student,  "  The  Expressions  of  Man  and 
Animals,"  gives  illustrations  of  these  rudimentary  or  reflected 
gestures,  which,  as  he  remarks,  are  intelligible,  if  we  admit 
that  the  structure  and  habits  of  all  animals  have  been  grad- 
ually evolved.  Thus,  in  sneering  or  defiance,  the  upper  lip 
is  lifted  and  retracted  in  such  a  manner  that  the  canine  tooth 
on  one  side  of  the  face l  alone  is  shown,  the  face  being  up- 
turned and  half  averted  from  the  person  causing  offence. 

Darwin  pertinently  remarks  that  it  is  a  surprising  fact 
that  man  should  possess  this  power  to  uncover  the  canine 
tooth,  or  exhibit  any  tendency  to  its  use.  To  account  for 
this  civilized  gesture,  he  goes  on  to  say :  "  We  may  readily 
believe  that  our  male  semi-human  progenitors  uncovered 
their  canine  teeth  when  prepared  for  battle,  as  we  still  do 
when  feeling  ferocious,  or  when  merely  sneering  at  or  defy- 
ing some  one,  without  any  intention  of  making  a  real  attack 
with  our  teeth." 

OF   THE    LIPS   AND    CHIN. 

As  structure,  the  lips  are  formed  by  a  circular 
muscle,  which  entirely  surrounds  the  mouth.  This 
single  muscle  closes  and  purses  the  mouth  by  an 
inward  motion.  This  motion  is  opposed  by  ten 
muscles,  which  have  their  origin  in  prominent 
points  of  the  bones  of  the  face,  and  converge  to- 
wards the  mouth,  opening  it,  and  moving  the  lips 
in  various  directions. 

We  find,  then,  eleven  muscles  giving  form  and 
motion  to  the  lips.  Five  muscles  surround  each 
eye,  and  four  give  play  to  the  nostrils. 

Here  are  twenty-five  elements  that  enter  into 

1  Usually  the  left  canine  tooth  is  uncovered.  With  primitive  man 
this  Sfcve  freedom  of  action  to  the  right  hand  in  striking,  and  to  the 
mouth  in  tearing  with  the  formidable  canine  tooth. 


256  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

the  problem  of  the  moving  display  of  the  chief 
agent  of  expression.  Add  to  these  twenty-five 
elements  the  form,  motion,  and  color  of  the  two 
globes  of  the  eye,  and  the  texture  of  the  skin  in- 
vaded by  the  blood.  Now  recall  the  Law  of  Op- 
position of  agents  in  gesture,  and  consider  the 
possible  permutations  of  these  elements  at  play 
in  a  space  easily  covered  by  the  hand,  and  we  can 
conceive  that  Nature  has  finished  her  work  in 
presenting  the  human  face  as  an  epitome  of  the 
proportioned  harmonies  of  form,  color,  and  mo- 
tion. 

We  ask  the  mathematician,  fond  of  the  exact 
logic  of  numbers,  to  apply  the  Law  of  Permuta- 
tion to  these  combinations  of  agencies.  At  the 
conclusion  of  his  computation  he  will  attain  to  a 
profound  respect  for  an  utterance  of  Swedenborg, 
picturing  faces  released  from  earthly  limitations : 
"  To  the  illumined,  no  speech  is  necessary ;  the 
Soul  shines  through  the  face.  All  its  affections 
appear  visible  in  a  natural  form." 

Ah,  if  the  human  face  had  never  been  taught 
to  dissemble ! 

Delsarte  was  surely  right  in  declaring  the  un- 
der jaw1  to  be  Vital  in  significance. 

Large  and  prominent  jaws,  the  world  over,  ac* 
company  a  strong  Vital  nature. 

Stiffen  the  lips  and  erase  their  curves,  and  you 
have  the  mouth  of  the  beasts. 

1  The  word  "jaw"  is  a  corruption  of  the  Old  English  "chaw," 
tfcat  which  " chaws"  or  "chews." 


EXPRESSIONS  OF  TEE  FACE.  257 

(e.)  Among  the  disciples  of  Delsarte  there  is  a  difference 
of  opinion  regarding  the  language  of  the  lips  and  chin.  That 
the  upper  lip  is  Vital,  the  lower  lip  Emotive,  and  the  chin 
Mental  seems  to  find  the  greater  number  of  supporters.  This 
empirical  division  is  not  entirely  without  reason,  if  based  in 
function  and  correspondence. 

As  we  have  elsewhere  said,  most  people  when  sneering 
lift  the  upper  lip  from  the  canine  teeth  on  one  side  of  the 
face.  This  is  a  rudiment  from  man's  Vital  era.  Among 
animals,  no  correspondence  of  a  human  sneer  is  stronger 
than  the  action  of  uncovering  the  teeth  by  the  carnivora. 
Indeed,  the  word  "  sneer,"  according  to  Wedgewood,  is  the 
same  as  "snarl,"  which  was  originally  "snar,"  the  "1"  being 
merely  an  element  implying  continuance  of  action. 

Lavater  declares  that  the  upper  lip,  by  its  upward  gesture, 
is  a  universal  sign  of  menace  and  effrontery. 

The  lower  lip  moves  much  more  freely  than  the  upper. 
This  mobility  is  seen  in  the  acts  of  laughing  and  crying  in 
young  children.  Children  preparing  to  cry  tremble  the  un- 
der lip  before  the  burst  of  feeling. 

The  connection  of  the  lips  with  speech  and  with  ready  ex- 
pressions of  feeling  makes  blends  of  these  agents  proceeding 
from  the  Mental  and  Emotive  natures  difficult  to  classify. 
That  these  agents,  through  form  and  contour,  express  men- 
tal delicacy  and  beauty  of  moral  character,  no  close  observer 
can  doubt.  That  they  make  ready  response  to  instant  moods 
is  a  matter  of  common  observation. 

Speaking  broadly,  we  may  say :  The  upper  lip 
is  more  expressive  through  form  and  contour. 
The  under  lip  is  more  expressive  through  mo- 
tion. 

The  chin  rounds  off  the  ellipse  of  the  face. 
Lavater  truly  remarks  that  deformity  here  is 
hideous. 

(/.)  The  chin  is  the  more  remarkable  as  a  feature  of  ex- 
17 


258  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

pression  since  its  forward  projection  is  distinctive  of  the 
higher  races  of  man. 

The  lower  animals  can  truly  be  said  to  have  scarcely 
more  than  a  vestige  of  the  human  chin. 

Curiously  enough,  the  muscles  which  render  the  chin  so 
prominently  a  human  feature  are  the  same  that  by  their  ac- 
tion give  the  human  expression  of  a  resolution  to  resist  op- 
pression, as  also  the  expression  of  the  assertion  of  supe- 
riority. 

We  cannot  close  our  comments  upon  this  expressive  region 
of  the  face  without  reference  to  the  half-poetic  and  half- 
scientific  deductions  of  the  quaint  old  physiognomist  Cams. 

With  entire  gravity  of  conviction  he  has  mapped  out  the 
territory  of  the  mouth  and  chin,  and  has  given  a  local  habi- 
tation to  Mental  and  Emotive  qualities.  Love  is  given  the 
entire  rule  of  the  under  lip,  while  in  the  narrow  dell  be- 
tween the  mouth  and  chin  dwell  four  of  his  relatives,  Clem- 
ency, Pity,  Sympathy,  Benevolence.  Five  qualities  group 
themselves  along  the  contour  of  the  upper  lip  and  spaces 
below  the  nose,  while  Cheerfulness  peeps  out  from  the  cor- 
ners of  the  mouth. 

We  conclude  our  analysis  of  the  expressions 
of  the  separate  features  with  a  confirmatory  gen- 
eralization of  Lavater :  The  upper  part  of  the 
face  down  to  the  root  of  the  nose  is  the  seat 
of  thought ;  it  is  the  region  where  our  projects 
and  resolutions  are  formed.  It  is  the  office  of 
the  middle  and  lower  zones  to  unfold  them. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

THE    HUMAN   VOICE    AND    ITS    EXPRESSIONS. 

THE  great  naturalist  Agassiz,  in  speaking  of 
voice  as  a  correspondence  of  the  nature  of  ani- 
mals, said :  "  Voice  is  a  fundamental  character- 
istic of  the  animal,  adhering  to  the  nature  of  the 
being,  and  incapable  of  disappearing  while  the 
animal  lives." 

Oken  declares  "the  cry  of  an  animal  to  be 
an  expression  of  its  innermost." 

Thus,  everywhere  lions  roar,  wolves  howl, 
horses  neigh,  savages  cry.  In  a  word,  through 
its  voice  the  animal  expresses  and  epitomizes  its 
being.  Its  voice  is  as  unmistakable  as  its  ges- 
tures, and  always  corresponds  with  them.  The 
stealthy  glide  of  the  carnivora  and  their  gesture 
of  striking  —  swift  as  a  beam  of  light  —  are  not 
more  characteristic  than  is  the  ferocious  blend 
of  radical  and  vanish  in  the  stress  of  the  voice. 

We  may  state  with  confidence  that  in  expres- 
sion the  language  of  voice — pure  and  simple 
—  is  Vital. 

In  man,  and  the  land  mammals  to  which  he  is 
allied  through  structure,  voice  has  the  same  sig- 
nificance. It  is  the  expression  of  the  Vital  or 
instinctive  nature  given  to  the  ear  as  sound. 


260  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

In  the  cries  of  all  land  mammals  are  detected 
modulated  sounds,  sometimes  approaching  mu- 
sical intonations.  With  man  these  sounds  be- 
come conscious  modulations  and  intonations, 
made  expressive  by  the  use  of  musical  tech- 
nique. 

No  other  animal  attains  the  inflected  voice, 
which  is  used  alone  by  the  thinking  animal,  man, 
to  accompany  articulations  and  to  mark  the  rela- 
tions of  ideas.  And  the  simple  and  homoge- 
neous being  of  the  animal  finds  in  sound  and  its 
modulations  a  sufficient  vehicle  of  expression. 
It  is  because  of  the  wonderful  complexity  and 
heterogeneity  of  the  Being  that  man  has  such 
an  unswerving  complexity  of  agents  through 
which  to  manifest.  Of  the  three  bodily  agents 
vwe  may  say,  speaking  broadly,  that  the  voice 
\reveals  his  Vital,  gesture  his  Emotive,  and  ar- 
jticulate  speech  his  Mental  nature. 

And  all  these  forms  of  expression  —  except 
cries  of  animal  pleasure  and  pain  —  and  reflex 
motion  came  as  man  assumed  the  vertical  and 
gained  the  use  of  the  released  fore  limbs. 

The  development  of  faculty  and  the  use  of 
faculty  still  keep  equal  pace  in  man's  advance. 

(a.)  Gustave  Jaeger  has  clearly  pointed  out  the  intimate 
relation  between  the  vertical  position  and  the  production  of 
voice  sounds.  He  shows  that  there  are  two  indispensable 
physical  conditions  to  the  production  of  the  modulated  voice 
in  mammals.  These  conditions  are  :  first,  the  ability  to  ex- 
pel the  air  from  the  lungs  with  a  sustained  effusive  outgo ; 
and  second,  the  ability  to  give  a  slight  pressure  or  stroke, 


THE  HUMAN  VOICE.  261 

so  as  to  break  the  outgoing  breath  into  impulses  or  separate 
sounds. 

Now,  the  having  these  two  conditions  of  phonation  would 
give  the  mammal  possessing  them  a  superiority  over  his 
congeners.  In  man  these  conditions  exist  in  their  highest 
perfection.  On  the  other  hand,  the  quadrupeds,  bound  to 
earth  by  four  tethers,  find  great  physical  difficulty  in  giving 
free  motion  to  the  horizontal  lungs.  So,  it  is  a  noticeable 
fact  that  when  our  large  quadrupeds,  deer  or  cattle,  call 
loudly  or  continuously,  they  halt,  stand  still  while  so  doing, 
showing  that  the  fore  limbs  must  rest  in  the  act  of  calling. 

The  structure  of  the  instrument  of  the  voice 
is  essentially  the  same  in  all  land  mammals,  and 
is  connected  with  the  respiratory  act.  Every- 
where animals  breathe  to  live.  So  the  human 
instrument  of  the  voice  is  the  differentiated  end 
of  the  breathing-tube.  This  differentiation  is  ac- 
companied by  a  further  differentiation  of  mouth, 
tongue,  lips,  and  nose.  So  that  a  statement  of 
the  progressive  functions  of  the  mouth  is  also  a 
statement  of  the  progressive  evolution  of  the 
Psychic,  and  marks  the  stages  of  human  prog- 
ress. 

Man,  in  his  Vito- Vital  state,  fed  and  fought 
with  the  mouth.  He  uttered  significant  cries 
through  the  mouth,  and  began  to  connect  sounds 
with  ideas  of  things,  as  he  advanced  toward  the 
Mental.  He  now  reveals  through  the  mouth  the 
highest  moods  of  his  Emotive  and  Mental  na- 
ture, by  the  use  of  perfected  musical  and  speech 
forms.  So,  we  may  define  the  human  voice  as 
the  audible  correspondence  of  the  Being. 


262  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

And  we  may  add  to  our  psychological  defini- 
tion the  admirable  technical  definition  of  the 
eminent  American  philologist,  Professor  Whit- 
ney :  "  Voice  is  the  audible  result  of  a  column 
of  air,  sent  from  the  lungs,  stamped  with  so- 
nancy  and  variety  of  pitch  by  the  larynx,  and 
individualized  by  the  mouth." 

Let  us  first  examine  this  instrument  as  a  struc- 
ture, and  then  its  outcome  or  play  as  recognized 
by  the  ear. 

OF  THE  OBGAK  OF  THE  VOICE. 

The  instrument  of  the  human  voice  is  most 
nearly  represented  by  the  church  organ.  Mu- 
sically speaking,  it  is  a  reed  instrument.  It  con- 
sists of  the  lungs,  —  the  air  chest  or  bellows,  — 
capable  of  sending  through  the  wind-pipe  a  cur- 
rent of  air,  which  vibrates  the  natural  reeds  or 
lips  of  the  tone  box  or  larynx.  These  vibrations 
from  the  lips  of  the  larynx  pass  into  the  variable 
cavity  above  it,  which  consists  of  the  pharynx, 
mouth,  and  nose.  The  current  of  air  is  forced 
from  the  lungs  by  the  action  of  a  powerful  mus- 
cle, the  diaphragm.1 

The  result  of  the  play  of  this  instrument  is 
the  human  voice.  We  introduce  a  diagram  to 
show  the  relative  positions  of  the  parts  that  go 
to  make  this  complex  organ. 

1  This  word  still  holds  its  early  signification,  "  a  partition  wall." 
Voice  proper  came  in  with  the  diaphragm.  Only  in  the  mammalia  is 
there  a  complete  diaphragm.  Only  in  man  are  the  lungs  placed  ver- 
tically above  the  diaphragm. 


THE  HUMAN  VOICE.  263 

Now,  as  this  instrument  is  a  musical 
instrument,  the  result  of  its  play  should     ^a^f 

be  musical.  Larynx. 

And  being  a  living  entity  in  struc-        6 
ture,  fashioned  by  the  plastic  hand  of        f 
Nature,  while  all  other  musical  instru-        | 
ments  are  made  by  the  hand  of  man,      Lungg. 
its  music,  by  parity  of  reasoning,  should  Diaphragm. 
give  forth  elements  not  found  in  dead 
structures.     That  it  does  so  is  a  recognized  fact. 
Beyond  a  doubt,  the  success  of  the  vocal  artist 
depends  upon  his  power  to  give  forth  qualities 
from  his  instrument  which  we  recognize  as  dis- 
tinctively psychological. 

The  Soul  must  attune  the  instrument  to  the 
theme. 

(b.)  Nothing  is  so  utterly  unsatisfactory  in  the  whole 
realm  of  art  as  the  human  voice  with  a  perfected  technique, 
and  no  soul  behind  it !  If  the  artist  cannot  inform  his  tech- 
nique with  psychic  force,  no  grimace  of  mechanical  forms 
of  time,  force,  and  movement  can  save  him !  The  music- 
box  may  be  absolutely  accurate  in  time,  force,  and  move- 
ment ;  it  is  only  when  technique  is  a  vehicle  in  which  rides 
the  Being  that  it  becomes  of  value  in  any  high  sense. 

The  vocal  instrument,  if  we  admit  it  to  be  a 
musical  instrument,  must  combine  the  parts  of 
a  musical  instrument. 

No  instrument  can  give  forth  musical  sounds 
unless  it  combines  in  its  construction  three  ele- 
ments. These  three  essential  elements  are :  1.  A 
motor  element.  2.  A  resonant  element.  3.  A 
vibratory  element. 


264  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

(c.)  Take  as  illustration  of  the  combination  of  these  es- 
sentials the  most  primitive  of  musical  instruments,  the 
drum.  The  motor  element  is  the  drumstick  ;  the  vibra- 
tory, the  tense  membrane  that  forms  the  head  of  the  drum ; 
the  resonant  element,  the  body  or  cavity.  So,  in  the  more 
complex  instrument,  the  piano,  the  keys,  or  inner  hammers 
moved  by  the  keys,  are  the  motor  element,  the  strings  the 
vibratory,  the  body  and  inclosed  space  the  resonant. 

These  same  elements  enter  into  the  living  structure  of 
the  organ  of  the  human  voice.  The  diaphragm  is  the  motor 
element;  it  acts  upon  the  bellows,  the  lungs,  and  sends  a 
column  of  air  through  the  wind-pipe  into  the  larynx,  which 
holds,  protects,  and  favorably  presents  the  glottal  lips  to 
the  outgoing  air.  These  lips  of  the  glottis  are  the  vibratory 
element.  The  pharynx,  the  mouth  with  its  arch,  the  nasal 
cavities,  the  bones  of  the  face,  are  the  resonators. 

Without  doing  violence  to  the  facts  presented  to  our  rea- 
son —  facts  of  structure  and  function  —  we  may  fairly  infer 
Nature's  purpose  held  from  the  beginning  to  the  consum- 
mated end.  All  this  complex  structure  was  evolved  that 
two  lips  of  the  glottis  might  present  their  sensitive  and 
parallel  edges  to  the  outgoing  stream  of  air. 

Such  is  the  instrument  of  the  human  voice. 
Clearly  a  Vital  structure  at  its  root.  Its  out- 
come and  product  the  audible  symbol  of  life. 
He  who  doubts  should  study  attentively  that 
epitome  of  the  human  race,  the  babe,  a  constant 
witness  that  organic  sensibility  to  pain  first  gave 
impulse  to  voice  with  primitive  man,  and  was 
the  first  step  in  the  evolution  of  language.1  The 

1  The  author  is  aware  that  Darwin  has  argued  that  the  vocal  organ 
was  developed  through  the  force  of  sexual  impulse,  in  order  that  one 
sex  might  call  or  charm  the  other. 

Is  it  not  more  probable  that  a  greater  nervous  excitement  would 
come  from  the  intense  pain  consequent  upon  the  laceration  of  the 
body  in  the  fierce  contests  to  which  primitive  man  was  exposed  ? 


THE  HUMAN  VOICE.  265 

startled  cry  of  the  new-born  babe  is  an  echo  of 
the  Vital  cry  of  the  race.  Nothing  is  so  fine  a 
correspondence  as  this  purely  animal  cry  of  the 
babe.  Through  the  cry  he  announces  his  sub- 
jugation to  organic  want.  He  lives,  eats,  sleeps, 
cries,  and  wails.  This  is  the  Vital  round  of  his 
existence. 

—  "  We  come  «rying  hither. 
Thou  knowest  the  first  tim«  that  we  smell  the  air 
We  wawl  and  cry  :  —  I  will  preach  to  thee  :  mark 
When  we  are  born,  we  cry  that  we  are  come 
To  this  great  stage  of  fools  !  " 

But  what  other  elements  shall  we  find  in  the 
human  voice  besides  this  persistent  Vital,  which 
allies  itself  so  unmistakably  with  our  animal 
and  instinctive  Being  ? 

The  coordinated  action  of  two  organs  is  es- 
sential to  the  production  of  voice.  These  organs 
are :  1.  The  larynx.  2.  The  ear.  Nature's  laws 
governing  sounds  are  fixed  and  invariable.  So 
we  have,  as  the  constant  physical  factors  in  our 
problem,  the  ear,  the  larynx,  and  invariable  Na- 
ture. 

Let  us  examine  the  outcome  from  the  action 
of  these  three  factors  :  — 

At  first  thought,  a  sound  of  the  voice  reaching 
the  ear  seems  very  simple ;  but  if  we  should 
stop  to  analyze  it,  we  should  find  it  to  be  quite 
complex,  and  when  analyzed  by  a  trained  and 
expert  ear,  aided  by  the  delicate  and  exact  me- 
chanical instruments  now  in  use  by  physicists, 
it  yields  to  persistent  solicitation  its  wonderful 
properties. 


266  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

The  exhaustive  researches  of  the  German 
physicist,  Helmholtz,  have  reduced  the  phenom- 
ena of  sound  to  an  exact  and  intensely  inter- 
esting science.  And  what  does  experimental 
science  say  about  the  sounds  of  the  human 
voice  ?  Upon  analysis,  all  sounds  that  reach 
our  consciousness,  as  voice,  are  found  to  have 
three  properties  :  — 

1.  We  recognize  that  a  given  sound  is  louder, 
or  less  loud,  than  some  other  sound  with  which 
we  compare  it ;  and  we  say  of  it  that  it  has  the 
property  of  intensity,  force,  loudness. 

2.  We  recognize  that  it  has  a  higher  or  lower 
place   on   the   musical   scale    than   some    other 
sounds  we  have  heard ;  and  we  say  of  it  that  it 
has  pitch  or  position,  high  or  low,  upon  an  ar- 
ranged scale  of  sounds. 

3.  We  recognize  one  other  property.     If  we 
ask  each  one  of  a  half  score  of  persons  to  give 
separately  the  same  sound,  with  the  same  degree 
of  loudness  and  with  the  same  pitch,  we  find 
that  each  person  gives  forth  a  different  kind  of 
voice  from  any  one  of  the   others.      We  find 
each  one  to  have  his  own  voice  as  distinctively 
as  his  own  face.     So  we  say  of  the  voice  that 
it   has  a  third   property,  —  timbre,   quality,   or 
Tonfarbe.1 

When  we  have  found  these  three  elements  we 


1  Neither  the  French  nor  the  English  word  is  so  finely  descriptive 
of  this  subtle  element  of  the  voice  as  is  the  German  Tonfarbe,  tone 
color. 


THE  HUMAN  VOICE.  267 

have  found  all  that  a  physical  analysis  yields. 
We  know  all  that  is  ascertainable  at  this  stage 
of  scientific  progress. 

(d.)  At  present  neither  physical  nor  psychological  science 
can  give  any  adequate  account  of  the  subtle  element  which 
we  all  recognize  in  the  human  voice,  and  which,  for  the  want 
of  a  better  term,  we  speak  of  as  "  magnetic."  Of  an  hun- 
dred readers,  actors,  or  singers,  one  only  may  possess  this 
power.  But  the  voice  that  thrills,  arouses,  electrifies,  yields 
nothing  to  physical  analysis.  Does  law  govern  here,  or  is 
all  caprice  ? 

Three  elements  determine  the  voice  as  the 
three  lines  determine  the  triangle.  We  diagram 
these  elements :  — 


Quality. 


Two  conditions  of  voice  are  frequently  spoken 
of  in  books  of  elocution  as  properties  of  the  voice. 
These  are  Time  or  Duration,  and  Distancing  or 
Reach. 

It  will  be  readily  seen  that  the  continuance  for 
a  longer  or  shorter  time  of  a  tone  can  only  be  a 
condition  of  the  tone,  and  no  part  of  the  sound 
presented  to  consciousness,  —  just  as  a  year  of 
one's  life  is  no  part  of  the  essence  itself. 

So  of  reach  of  voice,  which  may  be  defined  as 
an  inherent  power  by  which  the  voice  penetrates 
space,  and  is  heard  above  other  sounds  or  con- 
fused noises. 

This  carrying  power  we  conjecture  to  be  in  some 


268  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

way  dependent  upon  the  elements  that  go  to  make 
the  composite  tone  sent  forth  by  an  accurate  ad- 
justment of  the  vocal  organs.  It  is  always  an 
accompaniment  of  the  poise  of  the  Being,  and 
those  who  use  it  to  cover  distances  declare  that  it 
is  not  by  using  high  degrees  of  force  that  they 
accomplish  it.  They  often  describe  it  as  "  pla- 
cing or  throwing  the  voice." 

(e.)  The  author  of  this  treatise  has  taught,  successfully, 
as  a  part  of  vocal  technique,  "  carrying  power  of  voice,"  un- 
der the  term  "  Distancing." 

So  far  as  he  has  been  able  to  analyze,  the  process  is  both 
physiological  and  psychological.  There  is  (1)  the  tmrely 
physiological  process  of  taking,  holding,  and  giving  out  the 
breath,  —  the  one  thing  that  can  never  be  neglected ;  and 
(2)  the  physiological  process  of  opening  the  organs  of  the 
throat  and  nostrils.1 

Now  comes  the  psychological  process,  which  we  may  state 
briefly  as  (1)  poise,  (2)  think  distance,  (3)  throw  the  voice, 
as  the  hand  would  a  ball,  to  a  distant  ear. 

These  outer  and  inner  processes  fulfil  the  best  conditions. 
Let  the  student  remember  that  to  depend  upon  force  or  loud- 
ness  will  be  to  court  defeat !  Musical  tones  travel ;  noises 
disintegrate,  and  go  to  pieces.  It  is  the  "  poised  "  voice 
that  holds  the  subtle  elements  which  are  presented  as  phe- 
nomena of  "  distancing."  2 

1  Open  the  throat  and  nostrils,  as  if  about  to  gape ;  this  action  gives 
freedom  to  the  larynx,  and  resonance  from  the  mouth  and  surrounding 
cavities.     No  part  of  vocal  technique  is  more  important. 

2  To  the  technique  of  distancing  should  be  added  frequent  practice 
in  sustained  increase  of  force,  called  in  Music  ' '  crescendo. ' '   This  move- 
ment is  the  vocal  correspondence  of  enlargement.     The  object  grows 
larger  and  larger  as  one  looks.     This  crescendo  movement  is  a  power, 
ful  element  in  vocal  expression.     The  following  passage  from  Othello 
will  suggest  the  use  of  these  two  technical  artifices :  — 

"  Roderigo.  I  '11  call  aloud. 

logo.    Do,  with  like  timorous  accent  and  dire  yell 

As  when,  by  night  and  negligence,  the  fire 

Is  spied  in  populous  cities." 


TEE  HUMAN  VOICE.  269 

Miss  Anna  Dickinson,  then  reigning  queen  of  the  lyceum 
platform,  was  once  asked  how  she  was  able  to  be  heard  so 
distinctly  in  Music  Hall,  Boston.  This  great  audience-room 
seats  nearly  three  thousand  people.  The  platform  is  large, 
and  the  benign  bronze  Beethoven  stands  behind  the  speaker. 
At  the  extreme  opposite,  high  above  the  audience,  is  the  fig- 
ure of  Apollo,  the  gift  of  the  great  actress,  Charlotte  Gush- 
man,  to  the  city  of  Boston.  Miss  Dickinson's  answer  epito- 
mizes our  processes  of  distancing :  "  When  I  coirr,  ~»n  to  the 
platform,  and  find  myself  facing  the  great  audience,  I  make 
a  full  pause,  then  take  a  good  ready,  and  speak  to  Apollo !  " 

As  the  human  larynx  is  the  differentiated  end 
of  the  breathing-tube,  we  should  expect  the  act 
of  breathing  and  of  voice  production  to  be  in 
some  way  connected.  And  so  intimate  are  their 
relations  that  Oken  has,  in  happy  phrase,  called 
speech  "  gentle  respiration." 

Life  demands  for  its  continuance  two  move- 
ments, followed  by  an  interval  of  silence.  These 
movements  are  involuntary  as  a  life  process,  and 
occur  in  the  following  order :  1.  Inspiration.  2. 
Expiration.  3.  Silence.  As  an  art  process,  the 
movements  are  under  control  of  the  will,  and 
occur  in  the  following  order  :  1.  Inspiration.  2. 
Silence.  3.  Voice,  or  audible  expiration. 

These  three  movements  regulate  the  play  of 
the  instrument.  And  silence  is  by  no  means  the 
least  of  the  three  in  importance.  He  who  has 
not  learned  the  art  significance  of  moments  of 
silence  has  studied  to  little  purpose.  In  expres- 
sion, silence  is  indeed  golden. 

(/.)  Technically,  in  expression,  silence  is  termed  Ellip- 


270  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

sis.  The  word  signifies  "  to  leave  out ; "  hence,  a  space,  a 
chasm.  Delaumosne  reports  Delsarte  as  saying :  "  Gesture 
is  an  elliptical  language."  The  space  covered  and  the  time 
taken  by  an  agent  in  these  moments  of  silence  in  the  midst 
of  a  discourse  give  the  artist  his  greatest  opportunity ;  his 
ellipses  must  be  filled  with  expressive  gesture,  the  face  lead- 
ing all  the  other  agents. 

The  strength  of  the  ellipses  will  be  readily  surmised  in 
the  following  sentences  from  Shakespeare  :  — 

"  Not  on  thy  sole,  ||  but  on  thy  soul,  |  false  Jew !  " 

"  Put  out  the  light,  |  and  then  —  ||  put  out  the  light !  " 

Ellipses  are  ruling  artifices  of  the  Emotive  nature.  Hence, 
in  our  highest  moods  of  passion,  we  make  little  of  words,  but 
much  of  the  tones,  ellipses,  and  gestures  which  accompany 
the  words.  Grammatical  and  logical  relations  give  way  to 
musical  treatment,  until  tones  and  gestures  find  their  climax 
in  stress  and  rhythm. 

Sterne  thus  satirizes  the  critic  who  would  bind  Emotive 
expression  by  logical  and  grammatical  rules :  "  *  How  did 
Garrick  speak  the  soliloquy  last  night?'  'Oh,  against  all 
rule,  my  Lord,  most  ungrammatically  !  Betwixt  the  substan- 
tive and  the  adjective,  which  should  agree  together  in  num- 
ber, case,  and  gender,  he  made  a  breach  ||  stopping  as  if  the 
point  wanted  settling.  And  after  the  nominative,  which 
your  lordship  knows  should  govern  the  verb,  he  suspended 
his  voice  in  the  epilogue  a  dozen  times,  —  three  seconds  and 
three  fifths  by  a  stop-watch,  my  Lord,  each  time ! '  *  Ad- 
mirable grammarian !  But  in  suspending  his  voice,  was  the 
sense  suspended  likewise  ?  Did  no  expression  of  attitude  or 
countenance  fill  up  the  chasm?  Was  the 'eye  silent?  Did 
you  narrowly  look  ? '  *  I  looked  only  at  the  stop-watch,  my 
Lord ! '  '  Excellent  observer  ! ' " 

Thus  respiration  becomes  representative  phe- 
nomena of  the  Being.  It  is  to  our  actions  what 
words  are  to  our  thoughts,  or  tones  to  our  emo- 
tions. If  we  hear  the  breath  we  know  the  mo- 


THE  HUMAN  VOICE.  271 

tive  behind  it !  Physical  and  psychic  strength 
both  lean  upon  our  respiration. 

Note  how  our  breathing  illustrates  the  three 
states  of  the  Being :  — 

The  Vital  predominating,  respiration  is  quick, 
strong,  and  sustained. 

The  Mental  predominating,  respiration  is 
slow,  interrupted,  and  often  suddenly  ar- 
rested. 

The  Emotive  predominating,  respiration  is 
deep,  sustained,  and  poised. 

Note  the  order  of  action  as  each  of  the  three 
natures  in  turn  dominates  consciousness. 


1.  THE   VITAL   IN   ACTION. 


We  are  out  walking  along  a  narrow,  pleasant 
country  road.  The  sights  and  sounds  of  sum- 
mer are  full  of  delight,  and  we  are  full  of  the 
glow  and  exhilaration  of  Life.  Our  breathing  is 
quick,  strong,  and  sustained.  Walk,  breath,  and 
heart-beats  pulse  in  rhythm.  Suddenly,  without 
a  moment's  warning,  a  carriage  with  two  fright- 
ened horses  appears.  What  happens  ?  The  Men- 
tal immediately  arrests  the  body ;  a  sudden  inspi- 
ration, —  almost  a  gasp,  —  then  a  cessation  of 
breathing  ! 


2.  THE    MENTAL   IN   ACTION. 


The  Mental  is  now  in  action.  It  stopped  the 
breath  and  stilled  the  body,  but  at  the  same  in- 
stant seized  the  eyes;  the  motions  of  the  two 


272  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

globes  are  like  two  flashes  of  lightning  from  two 
near  clouds,  —  the  wrinkled  eyebrows.  In  the 
moment  of  swift  glancing,  the  Mental  observes, 
compares,  concludes  !  The  breathing  is  resumed. 

3.  THE    EMOTIVE    IN    ACTION. 

The  Emotive  now  poises,  and  balances  the 
body.  What  ought  to  be  done  is  recognized, 
and  the  three  natures  —  the  whole  Psychic  — 
blend  in  the  act  of  arresting  the  horses. 

Thus  the  body,  in  all  its  acts,  is  seen  to  be  the 
outer  correspondence  of  the  Psychic. 

OF  TONES. 

There  is  a  propriety  in  classifying  the  ear  as 
an  organ  of  voice. 

So  thoroughly  is  it  auxiliary  to  speech  that  no 
ear  literally  signifies  no  speech. 

As  we  have  shown  in  another  part  of  this  trea- 
tise, the  structure  of  the  human  ear  and  its  inti- 
mate physical  connection  with  the  brain  declare 
it  to  be  an  instrument  for  the  reception,  analy- 
sis, and  presentation  to  our  consciousness,  of 
sounds. 

Upon  the  sensibilities  of  the  ear  rests  the  sci- 
ence of  music. 

Helmholtz  relates  the  power  which  music  has 
over  our  feelings  to  motion.  So  music  is  the  sub- 
jective correspondence  of  matter  in  motion.  It 
expresses  our  psychic  moods,  because  we  seem  to 
see  with  the  eye  of  the  ear  the  dance  of  objects 


THE  HUMAN   VOICE.  273 

in  space.  We  thus  translate  the  subtle  force 
that  the  Greek  philosophers  called  rhythm.  In 
a  word,  we  execute  in  idea  a  dance  of  tones  in 
time  and  space.  And  we  are  entirely  justified  in 
saying  that  the  tones  of  the  human  voice  are 
audible  correspondences  of  the  subtle  law  of  the 
universe,  —  rhythm. 

From  the  animal  cry  of  primitive  man  have 
arisen  the  perfected  arts  of  Music,  Poetry,  and 
Oratory.  The  crude,  monotonous,  but  rhythmi- 
cal sing-song  of  the  savage  has  given  way  to  an 
idealized  language  of  wonderful  complexity  and 
significance.  And  this  development  is  a  result, 
and  not  a  cause.  It  is  as  inevitable  a  result  of 
evolution  from  the  Vital  root  as  the  ripened  grain 
from  seed  and  blade. 

We  may  summarize  our  conclusions :  — 

I.  Primitive  voice  was  the  crude  and  Vital 
language  of  the  sensations. 

III.  The  modulated  and  intoned  voice  is  the 
language  of  the  Emotive  nature. 

II.  The  inflected  voice,  accompanied  by  artic- 
ulated or  jointed  sounds,  is  the  language  of  the 
Mental  nature. 

(^7.)  That  the  human  voice  was  primarily  a  reflex  gesture 
from  the  animal  root,  and  was  the  outcome  of  sensations  of 
pain  and  pleasure,  both  structure  and  function  of  the  instru- 
ment still  continue  to  testify  in  the  utterances  of  sounds 
heard  wherever  man  is  in  the  savage  condition,  or  wherever 
in  civilization  there  is  a  momentary  "  reversion  "  to  the  sav- 
age instincts  of  our  earliest  progenitors. 

So  the  novelist  of  two  hundred  years  ago  might  picture  in 
18 


274  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

a  single  sentence  the  raucous  voice  of  his  age  and  time : 
"  The  jeers  of  the  theatre,  the  pillory,  and  the  whipping-post 
are  very  near  akin."  Even  in  our  advanced  civilization,  in 
intense  excitement  of  the  nervous  system,  caused  by  an  over- 
whelming access  of  rage  or  terror,  there  comes  back  into  the 
voice  the  echo  of  a  far-distant  age  of  savagery !  Hence,  hu- 
man cries  of  terror,  rage,  alarm,  fear,  cries  of  pursuit  and 
of  flight,  cries  of  hunger,  cold,  and  thirst,  rooted  in  organic 
want,  all  tell  of  the  animal  that  still  lurks  in  ambush,  ready 
to  spring  forth ! 

Hugo,  in  his  novel  "Ninety-Three,"  sketches  in  a  few 
lines  a  peasant  mother's  cry  when  she  sees  her  three  chil- 
dren in  the  burning  tower  of  La  Tourge  :  — 

"The  mother  recognized  her  children.  She  uttered  a 
fearful  cry.  That  cry  of  indescribable  agony  is  only  given 
to  mothers.  No  sound  at  once  so  savage  and  so  touching ! 
When  a  woman  utters  it,  you  seem  to  hear  the  yell  of  a  she- 
wolf  ;  when  the  she-wolf  cries  thus,  you  seem  to  hear  the  cry 
of  a  woman." 

In  technical  training  for  a  superior  voice,  all 
the  elocutionist's  artifices  are  founded  upon  the 
three  essential  properties  of  the  voice,  —  Force, 
Pitch,  and  Quality  or  Tone  Color.  Each  of  these 
essential  properties  we  shall  find  to  have  a  physi- 
cal basis.  Let  us  consider,  briefly,  what  scientific 
investigation  reports  regarding  the  phenomena 
presented. 

THE    ELEMENTS    OF    FORCE   AND    PITCH. 

The  sensation  of  strength  or  loudness  (tech- 
nically, "force"),  as  a  physical  fact,  depends 
upon  the  extent,  swing,  reach,  or  amplitude  of 
the  air-waves  set  in  motion  by  some  mass  of  mat- 
ter in  vibration.  The  larger  the  waves,  the  louder 
the  sound. 


THE  HUMAN  VOICE  275 

(A.)  A  simple  illustration,  addressed  to  the  eye,  will  make 
this  plain.  Suppose  we  throw  into  the  still  water  of  a  lake, 
each  in  its  turn,  a  marble,  a  stone  the  size  of  a  base-ball,  and 
a  cannon-ball.  As  each  of  these  objects  strikes  the  water 
there  is  formed  a  ring,  which,  moving  outwards,  spreads  in 
all  directions  over  the  surface  in  a  continually  enlarging 
circle.  The  weight  of  the  stone  determines  the  size  and  ex- 
tent of  the  wave. 

Now  what  is  seen  to  take  place  upon  the  surface  of  the 
water  takes  place  in  the  air,  with  this  difference :  the  air- 
waves spread  outwards  like  a  globe  from  the  point  of  agi- 
tation, in  the  spacious  sea  of  air,  in  all  directions.  As  a 
physical  fact,  then,  loudness  or  force  depends  upon  the  am- 
plitude, reach,  or  extent  of  the  air-waves  proceeding  from 
the  vibrating  bodies. 

The  sensation  of  pitch,  as  a  physical  fact,  de- 
pends upon  the  number  of  vibrations  given  forth 
in  a  second  of  time.  The  fewer  the  vibrations, 
the  lower  the  pitch  of  the  sound ;  the  greater  the 
number  of  vibrations  in  each  second,  the  higher 
the  pitch. 

(i.)  Let  us  take  an  illustration  from  the  piano.  If  we 
should  strike  the  lowest  "C,"  and  immediately  after  the 
highest  "  C,"  and  mark  the  number  of  vibrations  sent  forth, 
as  did  Helmholtz  by  delicate  instruments,  we  should  find  for 
the  lowest  "C"  32  vibrations  in  a  second,  and  for  the  high- 
est "C"  4,096. 

So  we  find  that  the  pitch  of  a  sound  depends  entirely  upon 
the  number  of  vibrations  in  a  second,  and  not  at  all  upon 
the  body  set  in  vibration.  It  is  quite  indifferent  whether 
these  vibrations  come  from  the  strings  of  the  violin  or  piano, 
Jhe  vocal  lips  of  the  human  larynx  or  the  metal  tongues  of 
the  harmonicon,  the  trembling  lips  of  the  trumpeter  or  the 
reeds  of  the  organ ;  any  sound  from  any  instrument  that  is 
a  result  of  the  same  number  of  vibrations  in  a  second  of 
time  has  always  the  same  pitch. 


276  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

THE    ELEMENT    OF   TONE    COLOR. 

The  sensation  of  quality  or  timbre,  as  a  phys- 
ical fact,  depends  upon  the  forms  of  the  air-waves 
sent  out  from  the  vibrating  body.  As  a  purely 
physical  fact,  the  conditions  of  a  harsh  or  of  a 
harmonious  sound  are  impressed  upon  the  air. 

(j.)  The  student  will  note  that  none  of  the  early  books 
upon  elocution  gave  any  account  of  the  phenomena  of  qual- 
ity. The  solving  of  the  mystery  is  an  achievement  of  mod- 
ern science,  largely  due  to  the  genius  of  Helmholtz.  This 
great  scientist  reasoned  that,  as  force  was  due  to  the  ampli- 
tude of  the  air-waves,  pitch  to  their  number  in  a  second, 
quality  might  be  due  to  their  form.  An  exceedingly  exhaust- 
ive and  interesting  series  of  investigations  and  experiments 
ended  with  the  throwing  upon  a  white  screen,  for  the  eye  to 
see,  the  actual  forms  of  these  waves.  And,  curiously  enough, 
soft,  melodious,  smooth,  and  agreeable  tones  gave  rounded 
curves  of  waves,  while  sharp,  harsh,  grating  sounds  gave  an- 
gular and  irregular  forms.  Tuning-forks  traced  Hogarth's 
line  of  beauty,  while  some  harsh  notes  from  the  strings  of  a 
violin  gave  sharp  angles,  for  all  the  world  like  a  schoolboy's 
first  attempt  at  writing.  The  variety  and  beauty  of  these 
wave-forms  Helmholtz  found  to  be  beyond  computation. 

We  must  mention  one  other  discovery  of  Helmholtz  bear- 
ing upon  tone  color.  It  had  long  been  known  to  musicians 
that  when  a  tone  was  given  from  a  musical  instrument  a  cer- 
tain number  of  both  higher  and  lower  tones  accompanied  it. 
These  accompanying  tones  were  weaker  and  fainter  than  the 
tone  struck  out  upon  the  instrument. 

Helmholtz  called  these  accompanying  tones,  overtones. 
The  tone  which  the  ear  recognized  he  called  the  fundamen- 
tal tone.1 

1  It  is  impossible  for  an  untrained  ear  to  perceive  these  overtones. 
So  accustomed  is  the  ear  to  receive  the  tone  as  a  whole,  and  the  fun- 
damental tone  so  overbears  the  overtones,  that,  though  they  exist 


THE  HUMAN  VOICE.  277 

We  may  state,  briefly,  the  conclusions  arrived  at  by  Helm- 
holtz  bearing  upon  quality.  These  conclusions  are  the  re- 
sult of  the  most  critical,  patient,  and  exhaustive  anal- 
ysis :  — 

1.  There  is  no  musical  instrument  whose  fundamental  tone 
is  not  accompanied  by  overtones. 

2.  The  number,  kind,  and  intensity  of  the  overtones  differ 
in  different  instruments ;  and  it  is  this  difference  that  causes 
the  characteristic  quality  of  any  instrument. 

3.  The  fundamental  tone,  if  accompanied  by  consonant 
overtones,  gives  to  the  ear  harmonious,  agreeable,  and  pleas- 
ing qualities.     If  accompanied  by  dissonant  overtones,  it 
gives  to  the  ear  harsh,  unpleasant,  unmusical  qualities. 

As  physical  phenomena,  we  may  formulate  the  law  for 
quality  or  tone  color :  — 

Law :  The  timbre,  tone  color,  or  quality  of  tones  depends 
upon  the  form  of  the  fundamental  sound-wave  as  modified 
by  its  accompanying  overtone  waves. 

Thus  it  will  be  readily  inferred  that  the  qual- 
ity or  color  of  each  voice  is  entirely  personal  and 
characteristic.  Each  one's  voice  is  his  voice  just 
as  truly  as  each  one's  face  is  his  face.  Each  hu- 
man voice  is  a  differentiated  product  of  an  instru- 
ment alike  in  structure  with  all  races  of  men  upon 
the  earth. 

We  may  make  a  division  of  expressive  quali- 
ties of  the  voice  into  (1)  Natural  and  (2)  Acquired 
or  Modified. 

Natural  qualities  are  the  result  of  inheritance, 
normal  growth,  and  a  healthy  condition  of  the 
vocal  organ.  These  qualities  are  fixed  and  per- 
manent, and  undergo  but  slight  change  even  un- 
der the  persistent  drill  of  the  elocutionist. 

above  and  below  the  fundamental  tone,  only  expert  and  musically 
trained  specialists  can  detect  these  blends  or  composites  of  sound. 


278  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

Modified  qualities  are  largely  the  result  of  im- 
itation, and  are  acquired  by  art  study  and  prac- 
tice. They  must  have  their  bases  in  structure 
and  inheritance,  are  to  a  certain  degree  under 
command,  and  can  be  consciously  employed  by 
the  speaker  as  art  elements  in  expression. 

In  conclusion,  the  elements  of  force,  pitch,  and 
tone  color  found  in  our  analysis  of  sound,  to- 
gether with  the  two  elements  of  time  and  rhythm, 
—  not  found  by  analysis,  but  always  accompany- 
ing the  voice,  —  give  all  the  elements  of  voice 
that  we  use  when  we  sing,  recite  a  poem,  or  speak 
as  orators  or  actors.  And  if  we  were  told  that 
our  every-day  talk  was  a  series  of  tunes  we  should 
be  incredulous.  Yet  every  affirmation  we  make, 
every  question  we  ask,  and,  more  especially,  all 
our  enthusiasms  of  expression  are  set  to  music. 
More  than  this  is  true :  the  shades  of  meaning, 
the  amount,  intensity,  and  freedom  of  the  emo- 
tion, are  told  by  the  tune.  So  the  sentence  means 
one  thing  if  we  sing  it  to  one  tune,  and  quite 
another  thing  if  sung  to  another  tune. 

So  we  have  tunes  into  which  we  project  our 
humor,  our  rage,  our  grief,  satire,  petulance, 
prayer !  Life  is  so  complex  that  words  alone 
cannot  serve  us.  If  we  could  not  sing  tunes  of 
our  feelings  set  to  these  words,  how  often  we 
should  be  dumb ! 

Each  of  the  essential  properties  of  the  voice — 
force,  pitch,  and  quality  —  we  shall  find  to  be 
variously  modified  by  the  action  of  another  in* 


THE  HUMAN   VOICE.  279 

strument.     The  double  play  of  two  instruments 
acting  as  one  gives  —  as  outcome  —  Speech. 

To  the  instrument  of  articulate  language  we 
shall  devote  the  concluding  chapter  of  this  trea- 
tise ;  for,  if  our  views  be  correct,  the  long  chain 
of  organic  events  upon  the  earth  ends  with  man ; 
and  through  speech  man  best  realizes  the  full 
correspondence  of  his  threefold  and  proportioned 
Being. 


CHAPTER  XVH. 

ARTICULATE    SPEECH    AS    AN    ELEMENT    OF 
EXPRESSION. 

IN  considering  in  the  preceding  chapter  the 
outcome  of  the  human  vocal  instrument,  we 
came  to  the  conclusion  that  voice  was  primarily 
a  manifestation  of  the  sensitive  or  Vital  nature, 
and  that  tones  or  modulated  voice  were  mani- 
festations of  the  Emotive  nature.  What  shall 
manifest  the  third  or  Mental  state  of  the  Being? 

Let  us  consider  the  intellect  or  Mental  nature 
as  wanting  to  manifest  itself.  And  for  conven- 
ience let  us  separate  the  inseparable  in  fact,  the 
knowing  nature  from  the  feeling  nature.  Let 
that  state  of  the  Being  which  perceives,  memo- 
rizes, makes  pictures,  thinks,  reasons,  general- 
izes, desire  to  express  itself.  How  can  it  do  so  ? 
What  means,  what  instrument,  has  it  ?  Let  us 
see.  A  professor  of  geology  has  brought  into 
the  class-room  a  stone  as  large  as  one's  fist.  He 
lays  it  upon  the  table  in  view  of  a  class  of  twenty 
students.  Now,  what  the  intellect  can  know 
about  this  stone  is  its  relations  as  shown  by 
points  of  resemblance  and  difference  to  all  else 
in  the  range  of  its  knowing.  If  it  could  know 


SPEECH  AS  AN  ELEMENT  OF  EXPRESSION.  281 

all  its  possible  relations  to  other  things,  it  would 
know  all  possible  to  be  known  about  the  stone. 
Suppose  it  to  know  many  of  these  relations, 
founded  in  identity  and  diversity,  how  is  it  to 
tell  to  the  twenty  students  any  part  of  what  it 
knows  ? 

Its  entirely  adequate  instrument  is  articulate 
speech.  Give  the  intellect  gesture,  —  it  fails. 
Give  it  voice, — it  is  inadequate.  Through  speech 
alone  can  it  reveal  itself. 

(a.)  Through  spoken  and  written  language  man  recre- 
ates the  past.  Let  the  language  of  a  people  be  entirely 
lost,  and  a  reconstruction  of  any  age  or  time  of  that  people 
becomes  impossible.  The  written  remains  of  a  language 
are,  in  a  psychological  sense,  fossils  imbedded  in  the  banks 
and  drift  of  the  period.  One  day  there  comes  along  an 
archaeologist  who  shall  breathe  life  into  these  dry  bones, 
clothe  this  exhumed  skeleton  with  flesh,  and  lead  back  into 
the  present  the  long-buried  past.1  Sayce  has  justly  said : 
"  One  might  be  tempted  to  call  language  a  kind  of  picture 
of  the  universe,  where  words  are  figures  and  images  of  all 
particulars," 

But  let  us  approach  nearer  the  heart  of  our 
subject  and  examine  it  more  closely. 

Spoken  language  is  sound  made  significant. 
That  is,  back  of  the  sound  there  is  a  thought. 
Articulated  sound,  then,  is  thought  outwardly 
embodied.  Historically,  the  sentence,  and  not 
the  word,  comes  first.  The  sentence  is  the  unit 
of  thought. 

1  As  a  most  notable  instance  of  the  reconstruction  of  a  great  era  in 
Roman  history,  through  an  exhaustive  study  of  "fossil"  language, 
the  student  is  referred  to  Froude's  Ccesar.  The  age,  time,  pressure  of 
events,  the  customs,  religion,  ambitions  of  an  era,  environ  the  colossal 
proportions  of  imperial 


282  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

(b.)  It  is  a  mistake  to  call  the  word  the  unit  of  thought. 
As  a  psychic  experience  —  easily  tested  by  any  one  —  the 
thought  greatly  precedes  the  construction  of  the  sentence. 
We  may  say  that  the  thought  comes  as  a  whole  and  in- 
stantly. We  never  think  first  the  subject,  then  the  predi- 
cate, but  we  relate  subject  and  object  by  a  simultaneous 
psychic  act,  and  then  we  make  it  objective  in  a  spoken  sen- 
tence. We  think  in  flashes,  we  construct  with  words. 

So  the  sentence  consists  of  two  factors,  one 
the  external  sound,  the  other  the  internal 
thought. 

When,  however,  a  thought  which,  again  and 
again,  had  taken  a  whole  sentence  to  express  it 
becomes  familiar  and  in  every-day  use,  conven- 
ience urges  condensation,  and  we  make  a  single 
word  stand  as  the  sign  of  the  sentence.  And 
this  labor-saving  process,  by  which  an  abstract 
stands  for  many  words,  is  as  much  an  evidence 
of  an  advanced  civilization  as  is  a  modern  Ames 
plough  over  the  primitive  plough  —  a  crooked 
limb  of  a  tree  drawn  by  cattle  to  scratch  the  earth. 
"The  number  of  abstracts,"  says  Sayce,  "pos- 
sessed by  a  language  is  a  gauge  of  its  develop- 
ment ; "  and  he  adds,  "  We  cannot  realize  the 
mental  struggles  primitive  man  made  to  gain 
ideas  now  so  familiar  to  us." 

Oken  called  a  word  a  crystalized  thought.  If 
our  thoughts  upon  a  given  subject  are  not 
clearly  held,  not  well  defined,  we  are  apt  "  to 
talk  all  around  it,"  when  a  few  well -chosen 
words,  with  much  thinking,  would  as  surely  con- 
dense values  for  us  as  a  single  gold  eagle  con- 
denses the  value  of  ten  silver  dollars. 


SPEECH  AS  AN  ELEMENT  OF  EXPRESSION.  283 

As  an  illustration  take  the  concept  "  man." 
It  is  expressed  by  a  monosyllabic  word,  spoken 
by  a  single  impulse  of  the  voice.  And  yet  it 
covers  each  one  of  the  millions  of  human  beings 
upon  the  earth.  But  when  a  race  of  undersized 
men  is  discovered  in  the  heart  of  Africa,  no  one 
word  can,  at  first,  cover  the  new  concept.  A 
man  of  this  race  is  called  "  the  short  man  with  a 
large  head ; "  after  a  while  he  is  called  "  dwarf." 
That  a  child  or  savage  could  have  called,  at  first 
sight,  the  object  that  draws  the  train  of  cars 
over  the  rails  an  engine,  would  be  possible  only 
upon  the  supposition  that  he  held  in  mind  the 
idea  of  the  Latin  word  ingenium, — inborn.  So 
the  child  calls  the  locomotive  engine  the  "  puff, 
puff,"  and  the  savage  calls  it  "  the  swift  horse 
that  breathes  fire." 

We  find  speech  to  be  a  complex  physiological 
process,  which  answers  to  a  complex  psycholog- 
ical process.  A  threefold  objective  presenta- 
tion of  a  threefold  Being.  The  spoken  word 
alone  is  the  whole  word.  It  presents  to  the  ear 
a  triple  blend  or  composite,  and  one  may  detect 
the  whole  Being  in  a  finely  spoken  sentence :  in 

1  That  the  savage,  upon  first  sight  of  the  locomotive  engine,  en- 
tertains the  idea  that  the  object  is  alive,  and  like  himself  can  dictate 
its  motions  and  scream  with  its  voice,  there  can  be  no  doubt.  Hence, 
with  the  savage,  the  sight  of,  and  the  sound  made  by  the  object  would 
give  it  a  name  of  more  than  one  word.  But  the  word  ' '  engine  ' '  dis- 
closes the  fact  that  he  who  called  the  marvelous  machinery,  moving 
as  if  by  an  inner  impulse,  "the  engine,"  held  the  full  significance 
of  the  Latin  ingenium :  innate  spirit,  soul,  or  life.  (From  in  and  gen, 
root  of  gignere,  to  beget. ) 


284  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

sonancy  we  may  detect  the  correspondence  of 
the  Vital  nature;  in  intonation,  the  correspond- 
ence of  the  Emotive;  and  in  articulation,  the 
correspondence  of  the  Mental. 

(c.)  Whitney  declares  the  term  "  articulation  "  (jointed) 
to  be  "  precisely  and  in  the  highest  degree  descriptive  of  hu- 
man speech  utterance,  as  distinguished  from  the  utterances 
produced  hy  the  organs  of  the  lower  animals."  He  adds  : 
"  The  term  *  articulation  '  is  one  of  the  happiest  hits  ever 
made  in  the  way  of  nomenclature  by  the  ancient  founders 
of  our  civilization  and  science." 

One  might  say  that  articulation  is  a  succession  of  joints 
or  segments  by  the  aid  of  which  thought  walks.1 

The  printed  word  is  the  symbol  of  the  real 
word,  but  the  spoken  word  plus  gesture  is  the 
real  word.  It  is  an  accord  of  three.  It  presents 
to  ear  and  eye  a  triple  blend. 

Thus  the  whole  Being  externalizes  itself 
through  voice,  gesture,  and  articulation.  Hence, 
the  difference  between  reading  an  essay  to  an 
audience  and  speaking  it  from  three  centres. 
Mathematically  it  is  the  difference  between  one 
and  three.  Psychologically  it  is  the  difference 
between  giving  your  thought  and  giving  your 
soul !  Practically  this  difference  represents  the 
wide  chasm  between  success  and  failure  as  an 
orator. 

1  The  analysis  of  an  author's  thought  can  be  best  taught  by  dout 
pronunciation.  By  this  means  the  pupil  thinks  the  separate  elements, 
and  gives  them  oral  expression  while  he  is  thinking. 


SPEECH  AS  AN  ELEMENT  OF  EXPRESSION.  285 
OF   THE    ORGAN    OF   ARTICULATION. 

In  our  last  chapter  we  described  the  structure 
and  operation  of  the  instrument  whose  outcome 
or  play  is  voice. 

We  found  the  organ  of  the  voice  to  be  the 
differentiated  end  of  the  breathing -tube,  and 
that  its  primitive  office  was  connected  with  the 
life  process.  It  was  evident  that  if,  by  any  con- 
siderable differentiation  of  this  breathing-tube, 
it  became  capable  of  giving  forth  a  variety  of 
sounds,  those  sounds  would  be  correspondences 
of  the  Vital  nature. 

(d.)  This  correspondence  of  the  Being  with  the  physical 
organ  which  serves  it  seems  to  have  suggested  to  Delsarte  a 
twofold  division  of  the  voice  into  vocal  and  dynamic.  He 
said :  "  There  are  two  kinds  of  loud  voices,  —  the  vocally 
loud  and  the  dynamically  loud."  This  accords  with  his  the- 
ory that  voice  is  primarily  the  language  of  our  sensations, 
and  is  rooted  in  the  Vital  nature,  while  that  in  the  voice 
which  expresses  the  conscious  forces  of  the  Being,  he  would 
term  dynamic. 

Another  statement  seems  to  make  clear  this  twofold  divi- 
sion :  "  A  voice,  however  powerful  it  may  be,  should  be  infe- 
rior to  the  power  which  animates  it."  l 

The  articulatory  organ  is  the  differentiated 
mouth  with  its  enclosed  and  surrounding  parts. 
To  him  who  weighs  impartially  the  constantly 
accumulating  evidence,  it  will  seem  that  this  is 
the  final  differentiation  upon  earth,  both  of  the 
race  and  of  the  individual.  And  this  view  is 

1  See  Delsarte  System  of  Oratory.  Pub.  by  Edgar  S.  Werner,  No.  48 
University  Place,  New  York. 


286  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

fortified  by  the  discoveries  of  modern  anthropol- 
ogy. Vogt,  Bouillaud,  Ferrier,  and  Darwin  had 
reasoned  that  there  must  be  a  seat  in  the  brain 
for  the  faculty  of  articulation. 

To  the  researches  of  Broca,  Nature  yielded  the 
secret  which  she  had  so  long  and  so  jealously 
guarded.  The  great  French  anthropologist  de- 
monstrated the  existence  of  a  special  seat  of  the 
faculty  of  articulate  speech,  localized  in  the  pos- 
terior extremity  of  the  third  frontal  convolution, 
especially  on  the  left  side  of  the  brain.1  When 
this  tract  is  injured  the  man  is  still  able  to  think 
and  to  connect  his  ideas,  but  cannot  summon  the 
muscles  into  action  for  articulation. 

(e.)  The  remarkable  experiments  of  Hitzig  and  Fritsch 
upon  the  cortex  tended  to  show  the  existence  of  centres  in 
the  brain  which  govern  definite  groups  of  muscles ;  but  it 
was  left  for  Ferrier  to  demonstrate  the  exact  position  of 
these  centres.  He  has  shown  that  all  the  muscles  of  the 
body  have  their  tracts  in  the  cortex  of  the  brain.  He  has 
accounted  for  all  the  muscles  of  the  body,  and  finds  that 
their  centres  in  the  cortex  are  arranged  in  their  order  from 
below  upwards,  —  face,  arm,  leg,  torso.  And  this  order 
agrees  with  the  progressive  evolution  of  our  sense  faculties. 
Dr.  Lauder  Brunton  finds  that  the  lowest  tract  upon  the  cor- 
tex is  that  which  controls  the  muscles  of  the  face.  So  we 
find  the  lowest  animals  seize  food  with  the  mouth.  "We  next 
find  the  arm  tract  developed,  next  the  tract  that  controls  the 
legs,  and  lastly  the  tract  that  controls  the  muscles  of  the 
torso. 

1  It  is  not  by  accident  that  we  are  right-handed.  Modern  research 
has  disclosed  that  the  left  hemisphere  of  the  brain  presides  over  the 
movements  of  the  right  side  of  the  body.  Heredity  has  given,  by  con- 
stant transmission  of  faculty,  a  greater  amount  of  activity  to  the  left 
hemisphere  of  the  brain  than  to  the  right. 


SPEECH  AS  AN  ELEMENT  OF  EXPRESSION.  287 

And  one  point  deserves  special  note.  The  higher  and 
the  nearer  to  the  fore-brain  these  centres,  the  more  they  re- 
quire education.  Thus,  the  articulatory  centre  requires  long 
practice  to  perform  its  exalted  service.  So  all  our  art  forms, 
to  be  of  highest  value  in  after  life,  must  have  their  founda- 
tion laid  in  childhood. 

The  act  of  articulation  is  an  organic  result  of 
three  factors :  — 

1.  A  material  seat  in  the  brain  of  a  psychic 
faculty,  that  strives  to  express  itself  by  the  use 
of  jointed  sounds. 

2.  A  specialized  organ  to  serve  this  faculty. 

3.  Motor  agents  between  the  brain  seat  and 
the  special  organ. 

The  result  of  the  play  of  this  organic  instru- 
ment is  articulate  speech.  Through  articulate 
speech  the  Mental  nature  manifests  itself  in  com- 
pleteness. Said  Oken  :  "  When  conversing,  man 
is  a  self -manifestation  unto  self."  By  the  act  he 
makes  that  exterior  which  a  moment  before  was 
interior.  So  "  to  utter  "  is  to  put  outside  one's 
self,  —  "  to  make  outer."  In  deep  thought  we 
carry  a  world  within  us ;  we  project  a  world  into 
the  outer  when  we  speak. 

The  action  of  three  material  agents  gives,  as  a 
result,  articulation.  These  three  agents  are  the 
tongue,  the  lips,  and  the  lower  jaw. 

Let  us  examine  the  structures  that  go  to  form 
the  articulatory  organ. 

The  mouth  cavity  is  situated  above  the  larynx, 
and  receives  the  sound  struck  out  by  the  lips  of 
that  instrument.  The  ceiling  of  the  mouth  is 


288  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

the  hard  palate.  This  ceiling  has  the  form  of 
an  arch.  The  floor  of  the  mouth  is  the  lower 
jaw.  Its  sides  are  the  cheeks.  At  its  back  is 
the  muscular  enlargement  of  the  oesophagus,  — 
the  pharynx.  It  is  nearly  filled  by  the  tongue, 
the  synonym  of  speech.  It  can  be  lengthened 
by  the  protrusion  of  the  lips.  It  is  made  vari- 
able— that  is,  longer  or  shorter,  closer  or  opener 
—  by  the  play  of  its  parts. 

We  may  find  the  happiest  correspondence  of 
the  play  of  this  complex  instrument  in  the  action 
of  the  human  hand,  and  so  may  say  that  it  ma- 
nipulates the  tone  sent  to  it.  And  we  do  no  vio- 
lence to  the  exact  facts  when  we  say  of  one  who 
has  a  finished  articulation  that  he  is  dextrous 
through  the  mouth. 

Three  movements  control  the  size  of  the  mouth 
cavity.  In  speaking,  these  movements  are  acts 
of  intelligence,  and  are  dictated  from  the  speech 
centre  of  the  brain.  And  we  may  conclude 
articulation  to  be  purely  an  act  of  the  Mental 
nature. 

(f.)  Two  great  discoveries  of  the  functions  of  inner  or- 
gans go  far  toward  determining  a  Philosophy  of  Expression. 
These  discoveries  are,  first,  that  of  Corti,  —  of  the  delicate 
organ  in  the  cochlea  of  the  ear,  which  the  microscope  dis- 
closes as  literally  a  harp  with  three  thousand  minute  strings, 
with  nerve  fibres  reaching  each  string,  and  whose  office  is  to 
respond  to  the  most  delicate  variations  of  tone. 

And  the  second  is  that  of  Broca,  already  described.  The 
small  tract  of  the  brain  —  the  seat  of  articulate  speech  — 
should  be  named  the  organ  of  Broca,  after  its  great  dis- 
eoverer. 


SPEECH  AS  AN  ELEMENT  OF  EXPRESSION.  289 

The  three  movements  that  control  the  size  of 
the  variable  cavity  are,  — 

1.  The  movements  of  the  lower  jaw. 

2.  The  play  of  the  tongue,  towards  or  touch- 
ing any  part  of  the  walls  of  the  mouth. 

3.  The  play  of  the  lips,  by  loosening,  tighten- 
ing, or  protruding  them. 

(g.)  We  give  in  diagram  the  arrangement  of  both  the 
voice  and  articulatory  organs  :  — 

(1.)  (2.) 

THE  ORGAN  OF  VOICB.  THE  ORGAN  OF  ARTICULATION. 

Variable  cavity.  The  Mouth.  ^^  p&^vQ  agmfc 

Reed. 

Lower  Jaw,  " 


Lips, 

The  Lungs. 
Diaphragm. 

We  shall  now  readily  comprehend  that  spoken  language, 
as  it  reaches  the  ear,  is  a  complexity  of  sounds  made  by  the 
action  of  two  organs. 

We  have  presented  as  a  whole  to  consciousness  a  com- 
plexity of  sounds  arising  from  the  simultaneous  play  of  the 
voice  organ  and  the  say  of  the  articulatory  organ. 

Let  the  student  bear  in  mind  that  the  ear  is  an  indispensa- 
ble ally  of  the  voice  organ,  and  the  organ  of  Broca  of  the 
articulatory  organ.  We  may  now  let  this  complex  organ 
play  and  say.  The  play  of  the  voice  organ  has  projected 
voice  into  the  variable  cavity.  Here  it  is  jointed,  moulded, 
or  segmented  by  the  action  of  the  lower  jaw,  tongue,  and 
lips.  If  we  observe  the  process  of  the  formation  of  these 
jointed  sounds  as  they  issue  from  the  mouth,  we  shall  find 
that  sometimes  the  mouth  channel  is  open  and  free  from  all 
obstruction,  from  the  vibrating  lips  of  the  glottis  to  the  outer 
air. 

19 


290  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

Sometimes  we  find  the  channel  contracted  and  narrowed, 
but  nowhere  entirely  closed.  Again,  it  is  partly  obstructed  ; 
and  once  more,  it  is  entirely  closed  against  the  outflowing 
stream. 

Now  it  is  this  issuing  stream  of  sound  poured  through 
an  open  or  narrow  mouth  -  channel,  through  a  partly  ob- 
structed channel,  or  breaking  through  an  entirely  obstructed 
channel,  that  gives  to  the  ear  all  the  elements  that  enter  into 
speech.  And  when,  by  an  act  of  intelligence,  trains  of  these 
segmented  sounds  become  significant  of  ideas,  we  have 
spoken  language. 

OF    THE    ELEMENTS    OF    SPEECH. 

All  spoken  language  is  made  up  of  the  sounds 
of  two  organs  acting  with  a  common  impulse. 
The  sounds  are  tones  and  articulations.  As  they 
are  organic,  they  are  essentially  the  same  the 
world  over.  The  human  organs  of  speech  have 
the  same  general  structure,  and  hence  give  forth 
the  same  sounds. 

As  all  violins  give  forth  the  sounds  of  the  vio- 
lin, so  all  human  speech  organs,  of  whatever  race, 
age,  or  sex,  give  forth  the  sounds  of  the  human 
instrument  of  speech. 

A  universal  language,  to  be  read  and  spoken 
by  men  of  all  races  and  tongues,  must  be  repre- 
sented by  symbols  which  shall  show  to  the  eye 
the  positions  and  motions  of  the  organs  when  in 
the  act  of  speaking. 


Such  a  diagram  alphabet  of  organic  symbols  has  been 
given  to  the  world  by  A.  Graham  Bell.1    These  symbols  rep- 

1  Visible  Speech.   Published  by  Cowperthwait  &  Co.,  Philadelphia. 


SPEECH  AS  AN  ELEMENT  OF  EXPRESSION.  291 

resent  the  positions  and  actions  of  the  organs,  and  thus  make 
speech  visible. 

The  written  language,  composed  of  these  diagram  letters, 
is  easily  learned,  and  children  of  whatever  race  can  be  taught 
to  read  and  speak  the  sounds  indicated  by  the  letters. 

Its  adoption  would  give  the  same  tongue  to  all  the  nations 
of  the  earth. 

With  the  deaf  and  dumb,  two  senses  —  sight  and  touch  — 
supply  the  want  of  hearing  and  speaking.  The  eye  of  the 
deaf  mute  sees  an  organic  position.  A  sensation  of  touch 
feels  this  position  and  locates  it,  say  in  the  throat  or  palate, 
or  on  the  tongue  or  lips.  The  result  of  the  most  patient 
teaching  is  that  the  dumb  speak  through  the  education  of 
the  sense  of  touch.  They  literally  feel  their  way  into 
speaking ! 

Let  us  examine  a  little  more  closely  these 
sounds  or  elements  of  spoken  language.  All 
sounds  reported  by  our  ears  are  either  tones  or 
noises.  The  whistling  of  the  wind,  the  rattling 
of  a  wagon,  the  scraping  of  the  feet  on  the  sanded 
floor,  the  filing  of  a  saw,  —  all  the  puffs,  hisses, 
buzzes,  clicks,  that  reach  our  ears  are  noises. 

Tones  are  the  products  of  musical  instruments. 
The  piano,  the  violin,  the  flute,  give  forth  tones. 

If  this  division  of  sounds  be  correct,  the 
sounds  we  make  in  speaking  are  also  tones  and 
noises.  We  call  the  tones  vowels,  and  the  noises 
consonants. 

The  peculiarity  of  the  vowels  is  that  they  are 
sounds  resulting  from  an  open  channel  outward 
from  the  lips  of  the  glottis.  There  is  no  ob- 
struction to  the  outgoing  sound. 

In  all  consonants  there  is  obstruction.     The 


292  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

active  organs  in   some  way  obstruct  the  vocal 
channel. 

In  organic  positions  and  actions  of  and  within 
the  variable  cavity  of  the  mouth  —  the  cavity 
extending  from  the  soft  palate  to  the  protruded 
.lips  —  we  shall  find  all  possible  sounds  of  the 
complex  organ,  from  the  purest  musical  tones 
due  to  structure,  use,  and  training,  to  the  clicks, 
buzzes,  puffs,  hisses,  and  gutturals  due  to  some 
form  of  partial  or  entire  closure.  We  diagram 
the  extremes  of  vowel  sounds.  Between  these 
limits  lie  all  possible  vowels. 

A  as  in  father   is   the  funda- 
mental  tone    of    the    instrument, 
5  the     purest     outcome    from    the 
lungs,  throat,  and  variable  cavity. 

The  human  instrument  tuned  to  a  always 
gives  this  fundamental  tone,  and  can  give  no 
other.  If  we  open  the  throat  naturally  and 
without  effort,  as  in  the  act  of  gaping,  getting 
everything  out  of  the  way  of  the  issuing  stream, 
—  the  teeth  out  of  the  way,  the  lips  and  tongue 
out  of  the  way, — a  as  in  father  will  be  the  sound 
given,  whether  by  Saxon  or  Celt,  by  African, 
Chinese,  Esquimo,  Indian,  or  Hottentot,  by  every 
man,  woman,  or  child,  of  whatever  race.  This 
starting-point  established,  it  becomes  a  necessity 
of  structure  that  if  we  narrow  the  oral  cavity  at 
different  points  and  by  different  degrees,  all  the 
vowels  will  be  sounded  in  their  turn. 

Tuning  the  instrument  for  its   fundamental 


SPEECH  AS  AN  ELEMENT  OF  EXPRESSION.  293 

sound,  the  vocal  a  as  in  father,  and  proceeding 
towards  closure,  we  form  a  triple  series  of  vowel 
sounds  along  three  lines  of  closure. 

1st  Series  :  along  the  line  from  a  to  e. 

This  series  is  due  to  the  action  of  the  tongue, 
which  marks  intervals  or  spaces  in  the  mouth 
cavity,  the  largest  space  giving  a,  the  narrow- 
est e. 

This  series  of  vowels  is  called  the  lingual  se- 
ries. 

2d  Series :  along  the  line  from  a  to  oo,  as 
in  ooze. 

This  series  is  due  to  the  pushing  forwards  and 
rounding  the  lips,  which  lengthens  the  mouth 
cavity  and  thus  creates  new  resonant  spaces. 

The  series  of  vowels  thus  formed  is  caUed  the 
labial  series. 

3d  Series  :  along  the  line  from  a  to  various 
closures  made  by  the  combined  action  of  the 
tongue  and  lips. 

This  series  is  due  to  the  coordinate  action  of 
the  tongue  and  lips.  The  vowels  thus  formed 
are  called  glides.  They  are  composites  or 
blended  sounds. 

Along  these  three  lines  of  closure  the  vowel 
sounds  of  ah1  languages  must  be  found.1 

If  we  regard  the  vowels  as  musical  tones,  all 
the  articulations  must  be  ranked  as  noises.  But 

1  The  student  is  referred  to  Professor  Whitney's  Growth  of  Lan- 
guage and  Bell's  Visible  Speech  for  an  exhaustive  treatment  of  this 
subject.  Both  these  authorities  found  their  scheme  of  vowel  sounds 
upon  organic  structure,  and  can  be  profitably  studied  together. 


294  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

the  ear  easily  marks  a  distinction  between  these 
noises.     It  divides  them  into  two  classes  :  — 

1.  Those  in  which  it  recognizes  a  considerable 
basis  of  tone,  and  which  are  not  decidedly  un- 
pleasant or  inharmonious,  —  such  composites  as 
by  d,  I,  m,  Hy  r,  ng,  v,  th  (as  in  then),  z,  zh. 
These  elements  form  the  class  qf  sub-vocals. 

2.  Those   in   which   the    ear   recognizes    the 
slightest  basis  of  tone  or  none  at  all,  and  which 
are,  for  the  most  part,  unpleasant,  inharmonious, 
and  to  be  avoided,  —  such  noises  as  p,  t,  k,  s,f, 
shy  th  (as  in  thin)y  ch.    These  elements  form  the 
class  of  aspirates. 

Now,  our  speech  is  made  up  of  these  three 
classes  of  sounds.  And  the  delight  the  Psychic 
finds  in  tone  and  rhythm  and  in  dramatic  pre- 
sentation is  evident  from  the  way  it  realizes  it- 
self by  using  the  three  kinds  of  sounds.  So 
we  may  say  that  the  Psychic  expresses  its  mu- 
sical states  through  the  vowels,  its  passionate 
states  through  the  sub-vocals,  and  that  it  uses 
the  aspirates  to  form  the  boundaries  or  outlines 
of  the  projected  tones. 

And  through  correspondence,  these  blends  or 
composites  of  three  kinds  of  sounds  present  to 
the  ear  what  graceful  forms  present  to  the  eye, 
namely,  the  elements  of  the  beautiful, — uniform- 
ity and  variety. 

(t.)  Tennyson  has  given  a  fine  illustration  of  the  value 
of  vowel  sounds  in  the  art  of  poetry.  In  the  lines  we 
quote,  he  speaks  of  the  inscription  upon  the  cenotaph  oi 
Sir  John  Franklin  in  Westminster  Abbey  :  — 


SPEECH  AS  AN  ELEMENT  OF  EXPRESSION.  295 

"  Not  here  !     The  white  north  has  thy  bones; 

And  thou,  heroic  sailor  soul, 
Art  passing  on  thy  happier  voyage  now, 
Toward  no  earthly  pole." 

Note  how  these  vowels  are  attuned  to  gratify  the  sense 
of  tone  and  rhythm.  The  poet  begins  with  the  short  sound 
of  "o."  This  sound  must  be  struck  with  the  radical  stress; 
it  will  not  admit  of  quantity.  But  the  purely  English  "  o  " 
in  "  north,"  modified  by  "  r,"  is  a  most  musical  element ; 
next  comes  the  complex  "  i  "  in  "  white  "  and  the  long  "  o  " 
in  "  bones,"  which  could  be  sung  rather  than  spoken.  But 
the  whole  series  of  sounds  find  their  climax  in  the  resonant 
march  of  tone  upon  the  words  "  thou,  heroic  sailor  soul." 
The  vowel  long  "o  "  is  the  proudest  and  "a  "  the  most  mu- 
sical of  the  English  vowels.  What  poise,  dignity,  strength, 
and  harmony  of  grateful  sounds  the  above  lines  present  to 
the  ear ! 

We  cannot  refrain  from  another  quotation  from  a  poem 
on  the  death  of  Princess  Alice,  where  he  makes  a  climax  of 
vowel  sounds  that  are  richer  through  speech  than  any  set 
musical  treatment  could  give  :  — 

"  Thou  England's  England-loving  daughter, 
Dying  so  English  thou  wouldst  have  her  flag 
Borne  on  thy  coffin." 

These  lines  seem  cast  in  the  most  suggestive  form  for 
treatment  by  values,  tone  color,  and  rhythm. 

Now,  the  sub-vocals  are  equally  expressive  when  depth  of 
passion  rules  the  utterance.  The  correspondence  for  the 
inflections  of  voice  in  our  deepest  Emotive  states  is  with 
the  force  of  gravity.  And  the  sub-vocals  lend  themselves 
to  this  downward  movement  more  readily  than  the  vowels. 

The  author  had  said  this  much  to  a  student  one  day. 
She  was  reading  the  play  of  Julius  Caesar.  These  lines  oc* 
curred :  — 

"  Cassius.  Age,  thou  art  shamed! 

Rome,  thou  hast  lost  the  breed  of  noble  bloods  I 
When  went  there  by  an  age,  since  the  great  flood, 
But  it  was  famed  with  more  than  with  one  man  I  " 


296  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EXPRESSION. 

My  student  read  these  lines  with  great  force,  but  with 
shallow  downward  inflections.  When  told  to  give  the  deep- 
est possible  downward  slide  upon  the  sub-vocal  "  g "  in 
"  age,"  upon  "  m'd  "  in  "  shamed,"  upon  "  m  "  in  "  Rome," 
and  to  give  three  successive  deep  falling  slides  upon  the 
sub-vocals  in  the  words  "more,"  "one,"  and  "man,"  she 
met  with  most  gratifying  success. 

Of  one  thing  we  may  be  entirely  certain:  that 
the  spoken  language  of  to-day,  in  this  advanced 
civilization,  is  not  the  language  of  the  England 
of  a  century  ago,  nor  is  that  of  the  era  of  Shake- 
speare the  language  of  Chaucer,  nor  is  that  of 
Chaucer  the  language  of  our  earlier  Saxon  an- 
cestors, nor  did  theirs  bear  a  very  close  resem- 
blance to  the  Aryan  or  race  language. 

Whitney  says  that  the  primitive  language  of 
our  family  had  not  half  the  sounds  heard  to-day. 
Spoken  language  is  a  living  tree.  In  the  lapse 
of  ages  it  is  root,  trunk,  branch,  flower,  fruit. 

The  oldest  trees  of  language  on  the  earth 
have  borne  no  improved  fruit.  Nor  do  they 
take  kindly  to  engrafting  other  stock  upon  the 
old.  According  to  Sayce,  the  language  of  the 
nomads  of  the  desert  of  Sahara  has  been  station- 
ary for  the  last  four  thousand  years.  And  yet 
it  is  a  thrifty  though  slow-growing  tree,  com- 
pared with  that  revealed  by  the  oldest  monu- 
ments of  Egypt,  "  decrepit,  outworn,  with  none 
of  the  bloom  of  creative  youth." 

According  to  Dr.  Edkins,  it  takes  twelve  hun- 
dred years,  in  Chinese,  to  grow  a  new  tone.  So 
a  new  tone  in  the  Chinese  language  is  a  twelve- 
century  plant ! 


SPEECH  AS  AN  ELEMENT  OF  EXPRESSION.  297 

In  the  Aryan  root  word,  man  -is  he  who 
thinks,  he  who  means.  And  man  is  man  in  vir- 
tue of  the  faculty  of  articulate  speech. 

Said  Martins  :  "  Articulate  language  is  the 
distinctive  characteristic  of  man." 

Said  Darwin  :  "  Articulate  speech  is  peculiar 
to  man."  And  Haeckel :  "  Nothing  can  have 
transformed  and  ennobled  the  faculties  of  the 
brain  of  man  so  much  as  the  acquisition  of  lan- 
guage." 

And  with  a  broader  spiritual  insight,  Oken 
said :  "  In  the  mind  of  man  universal  life  has 
become  subjective,  and  language  is  this  subjec- 
tivity externalized." 

In  conclusion,  we  may  say  that,  with  the  evo- 
lution of  the  mouth  organs  as  an  instrument  of 
expression,  man  has  reached  the  climax  of  phys- 
ical differentiation. 

It  is  not  probable  that  a  new  being  is  to  ap- 
pear upon  the  earth,  with  a  physical  structure 
differing  in  any  essential  from  the  present  man. 

The  exterior  has  completed  itself.  Any  fur- 
ther differentiation  must  be  looked  for  along  the 
parallels  of  the  mental,  ethical,  and  spiritual. 

Along  the  psychic  parallels  we  may  expect 
Nature  to  complete  her  design,  held  from  the 
beginning  of  life  upon  the  earth,  to  crown  her 
creative  acts  by  the  presentation  of  a  being  in 
whom  the  Spiritual  shall  realize  itself. 


14  DAY  USE 

RETURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWE1 

LOAN  DEPT. 


0( 


1 


A-50m-3,'62 
476B 


General  Library     , 
University  of  California 
Berkeley 


U.  C.  BtRKtLhY  LIBHAHIbS 


•JBJ 


